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Boston social history and legend from the Revolution to the passing of the Hancock house, rich in the names Bostonians used for their own streets and houses.","text_extract":"OLD BOSTON DAY5 \nAND WAY5 \n\n\nMARY CAROLINE CRAWFORD \n\n\nOLD BOSTON \nDAYS & WAYS \n\n\n( 1_ i_ . ' :.ijm Simmer Appletou \n\nMRS. UICIIAKI) DERUV AS ST. CECILIA. \nFrontispiece \n\n\nOLD BOSTON \nDAYS & WAYS \n\nFROM THE DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION \nUNTIL THE TOWN BECAME A CITY \n\n\nBY \nMARY CAROLINE CRAWFORD \n\nAUTHOR OF \" ST. BOTOLPH'S TOWN,\" \" AMONG OLD NEW ENGLAND \nINNS,\" \"old new ENGLAND CHURCHES,\" ETC. \n\n\nWith Numerous Illustrations \n\n\nBOSTON \n\nLITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY \n\n1909 \n\n\nCopyright, 1909, \nBy Little, Brown, and Company. \n\nAll rights reserved \n\n\nPublished, October, 1909 \n\n\nBleetrotyped and Printed by \nTHE COLONIAL P li E S S \nC. II. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A. \n\n\nFOREWORD \n\nAlmost of necessity a town is a different \nthing, and has a social Hfe quite distinct, from \na city. On its political side it is endowed with \ncolor and individuality, from the very fact \nthat its humblest inhabitant may, at town meet- \ning, raise his voice to oppose the motion of the \nrichest and most renowned man in the com- \nmunity. And, on the social side, it possesses \na simplicity of interests, a delightful neighborli- \nness, and a quality of charming intimacy which \nmay never be claimed by a city. \n\nSo, in this book, — which takes up where \nmy \" St. Botolph's Town \" dropped it, the \nstory of Boston's share in the struggle for in- \ndependence, — I have stopped just short of \nthe time when we blossomed into a munici- \npality and indulged in a mayor and aldermen. \nThe end of Boston's life as a town seemed to \nme really the end of an era and I thought I could \npaint a better picture of life and manners here, \nduring the period which followed the Revolution, \nif I did not venture far into the history of the \nnineteenth century. \n\n\nvi FOREWORD \n\nBesides, the niche that I have endeavored \nto fill in this book has been curiously vacant \nheretofore. No single volume happens to have \ncovered intensively, so to speak, that very in- \nteresting formative period when the peculiar \ngenius of Boston was beginning to find itself \nin art, in politics, and in civic life. Character- \nistically, I have passed lightly over the politics \nand have dealt wdth the personal rather than \nwith the technical side of the arts. I am so \nincorrigibly of the opinion that the people \nof a period are its history! \n\nMy warm thanks are due to the Houghton \nMifflin Company for their courtesy in permitting \nthe quotations credited to Mr. James K. Hos- \nmer's \" Life of Samuel Adams,\" and to Mr. \nHarold Murdock's \" Earl Percy's Dinner \nTable \"; thanks I give also to Mr. Howard W. \nSpurr for his kindness in allowing extracts \nfrom Goss's \" Life of Paul Revere,\" to Mr. \nCharles Knowles Bolton, of the Boston Athen- \naeum, for his personal helpfulness and for his \ngenerous permission to draw upon the rich \nillustrative material in the possession of the \nlibrary, to Mr. Louis A. Holman, to Mrs. James \nA. Garland, who has helped me greatly in the \nTudor data and pictures, to Mr. WiUiam Sumner \nAppleton, who has cooperated to the end that \nthe lovely portrait of Mrs. Richard Derby might \nappear in the book, to Mr. William B. Clarke, \n\n\nFOREWORD vii \n\nfor his service in connection with Revere's \nlantern-hanger, and to the New England Maga- \nzine, whose publishers have kindly placed at my \ndisposal a wealth of rare information about \nold Boston. \n\nThe works which have been consulted in the \npreparation of this volume are many more than \ncould be named here, and credit to them is, for \nthe most part, given in the text. But my debt \nto the invaluable \" Memorial History of Bos- \nton \" is so great that I must acknowledge it \nhere as well as there. I heartily thank also the \nmany custodians and collectors who have helped \nme in my browsings among those contempo- \nrary newspapers and documents, without which \nno history of this period could be written, but \nfor which, lacking the kindly aid of specialists, \none would so often search libraries and book- \nshops in vain. M. c. c. \n\nCharlestown, Massachusetts, 1909, \n\n\nCONTENTS \n\n\nCHAPTER PAGE \n\nV \n1 \n\n15 \n\n\nForeword , . \n\nI. The Master of the Puppets \nII. The Challenge to the Crown \n\nIII. Two English Champions of the Dawning \n\nRepublic \n\nIV. When Earl Percy Lived Opposite t \n\nCommon \n\nV. The Sprightly Chronicles of John Andrews \nVI. The Messenger of the Revolution \nVII. When Faneuil Hall Was a Playhouse . \nVIII. A Painter of Fair Women .... \nIX. John Hancock and His Dorothy \nX. The Man of the Town Meeting \nXI. In the Reign of a Republican \" King \" \nXII. An Eighteenth Century Aeronaut \nXIII. The Beginnings of Literature and Music \n\n\nXIV. Some Famous French Visitors to the Town 336 \n\n\nXV. Two Heroes of Peace \n\nXVI. Social Life in the Transition Period . \nXVII. Early Boston Theatres and Their Stars \nIndex \n\n\n30 \n\n40 \n65 \n108 \n142 \n190 \n215 \n251 \n269 \n297 \n310 \n\n\n380 \n401 \n419 \n459 \n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS \n\njFttll pap |)latc£( \n\nMas. Richard Derby as St. Cecilia . . . Frontispiece \n\nFrom the painting by Copley in the Museum of \nFine Arts, Boston. \nPaul Revere's Engraving of the Boston \n\nMassacre Facing Page 20 \n\nFrom an original copy in the possession of the \nBostonian Society. \nGeorge III \" \"21 \n\nFrom the painting by Reynolds. \n\nLord North • \" \"21 \n\nFrom the painting by R. Dance. \n\nCharles James Fox \" \"33 \n\nFrom the engraving by J. W. Cook, after the \npainting by Reynolds. \nWilliam Pitt ....... \" \"32 \n\nAfter the painting by Gainsborough. \nGeneral Gage ....... \" \"33 \n\nHugh, Earl Percy \" \" 33 \n\nJohn Hancock \" '''' 6Q \n\nFrom the painting by Copley in the Museum of \nFine Arts, Boston. \n\nDr. Warren \" \"56 \n\nFrom the engraving by H. W. Smith, after the \npainting by Copley. \n\nPaul Re\\t:re \" \"114 \n\nMrs. Revere \" \" 114 \n\nAfter the painting by Stuart. \nThe Old North Church, in Which Pulling \n\nHung the Lanterns \" \" 115 \n\nThe Room Occupied by Hancock and Adams \n\non the Night of Paul Revere's Ride . \" \" 138 \n\n\nxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS \n\nOld Kitchen of the Clark House . . . FaciiKj Page 138 \nThe Old Belfry^ Lexikgton, from which \n\nRang Out the Alarm, April 19, 1775 . \" \" 139 \n\nGeneral Howe . \" \" 15^ \n\nGeneral Burgoyne \" \" 152 \n\nBoston in 1774, from Dorchester Heights . \" \" I88 \n\nCopps Hill Burying Ground .... \" \" 189 \n\nJohn Singleton Copley ..... \" \" 204 \n\nFrom the painting by the artist, now in the \npossession of Gardiner Greene Hammond. \nJohn Quincy Adams ..... \" \" 205 \n\nFrom the painting by Copley in the Museum of \nFine Arts, Boston. \n\nAbigail Bromfield \" \" 205 \n\nFrom the painting by Copley, now in the posses- , \n\nsion of Miss Annette P. Rogers. \n\nElkanah Watson \" \" 210 \n\nAfter a painting done in England by Copley. \nNorman's Map of Boston in 1806 ... « \" gji \n\nFrom the only existing copy, now in the Boston \nPublic Library. \nDorothy Quincy Hancock .... \" \" 218 \n\nFrom the painting by Copley, now in the Mu- \nseum of Fine Arts, Boston. \nParuor of the Dorothy Q. House, Quincy . \" \" 219 \n\nThe Washington Elm, Cambridge ... « « g^g \n\nConcord Church, in which the Provincial \n\nCongress Held Its Sessions ... « u ggg \n\nSamuel Adams « « 270 \n\nFrom the painting in the Museum of Fine Arts, \nBoston. \nThe Reading of the Declaration of Inde- \npendence AT THE Old State House, Bos- \nton \" \" 271 \n\nPrayer Book Revised for Use in the New \n\nRepublic \" \"280 \n\nFrom the original in Christ Church, Boston. \n\nTontine Crescent \" \" 281 \n\nThe first block built in Boston, on old Franklin \nStreet. \nGardiner-Greene House, the Boston Home \n\nof Madam Haley .... « « 294 \n\nDr. John Jeffries, Aeronaut ... <4 « ggg \n\nAfter a painting by I. Russell. \n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii \n\nFrexch Monument Commemorating Dr. Jef- \nfries' Successful Passage of the English \nChannel in a Balloon .... Facing Page 298 \n\nBoston in 1802, from the South Boston \n\nBridge \" \"299 \n\nMrs. Mercy Warren \" \" 324 \n\nFrom the painting by Copley in the possession \nof Mr. Winslow Warren. \n\nPhillis Wheatley ...... \" . \" 324 \n\nJohn Adams \" \" 325 \n\nAbigail Adams ...... » \" \" 325 \n\nFrom the painting by Stuart. \nOliver Holden and the Organ upon which \n\nHe Harmonized \" Coronation \" . . \" \" 334 \n\nThe Hancock Mansion, which Stood on \n\nState House Hill Opposite the Common \" \" 335 \n\nSir John Temple, First British Consul in \n\nBoston \" \"346 \n\nFrom the painting by Copley. \nLady Temple (Elizabeth Bowdoin) . . «« « g^g \n\nFrom the painting by Copley. \nMarquis de Lafayette, from a Contempo- \nrary Engraving \" \" 347 \n\nCharles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord . \" \" 388 \n\nFrom the painting by F. Gerard. \nJerome Bonaparte ...... \" \" 388 \n\nFrederic Tudor, the Ice-Pioneer ... « « ggg \n\nFrom the painting by Alexander, in the posses- \nsion of Mrs. Frederic Tudor. \nMrs. Frederic Tudor, born Fenno ... »» « gg^ \n\nFrom the painting by Alexander, in the posses- \nsion of Mrs. Frederic Tudor. \n\nCharles Jones Fenno \" \" 398 \n\nFrom a miniature in the possession of Mrs. \nFrederic Tudor. \nRebecca Gratz (Scott's Rebecca) ... a a ggg \n\nFrom a miniature in the possession of Mrs. \nFrederic Tudor. \n\nMrs. Governor Bowdoin « « 399 \n\nFrom the painting by Robert Felse in the pos- \nsession of Bowdoin College. \nThe First Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis . . « « 399 \n\nAfter the painting by Malbone. \n\nBoston Common « «t 494 \n\nFrom a drawing by Hammet Billings. \n\n\nxiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS \n\nBeacon Hill and Its Monument . . . Facing Page 405 \n\nFrom a contemporary drawing by J. R. Smith. \nState Street One Hundred Years Ago . \" \" 416 \n\nThe Haymarket Theatre . . . . \" \"417 \n\nFrom a water-color once owned by John How- \nard Payne, now in the Boston Public Library. \nThe Old South Church, about 1800 . . u a ^^^ \n\nThe Mother of Edgar Allan Poe ... « \" ^^^ \n\nFrom a miniature. \nMrs. Rowson « « ^^^ \n\nEngraved by H. W. Smith from a miniature \nstill in the possession of the family. \n\n3flltt6tration6 in tl)e Ceyt \n\nThe Liberty Tree ........ Page 13 \n\nThe Castle (Fort Independence) as It Looks To- \n\n\nday .......... \n\nThe Suffolk Resolves House, Milton .... \n\nInterior of the Old South Church .... \n\nThe Old Powder House, Somerville .... \n\nMilitary Headguarters of General Gage . \n\nProvince House, where General Gage Lived while \nin Boston . \n\nThe Old West Church, whose Service Was Dis- \nturbed by British Soldiers ..... \n\nPaul Revere House after Restoration .... \n\nThe Rescinders. Engraved by Paul Revere \n\nThe Green Dragon Tavern ...... \n\nThe Restored Hancock-Clark House, Lexington \n\nStatue of Colonel William Prescott, Bunker Hill \n\nFaneuil Hall ......... \n\nStone in Copps Hill Burying Ground Used as a Tar- \nget BY British Soldiers ...... \n\nCarpenters' Hall, Philadelphia \n\nOld House in Charlestown where Oliver Holden \nLived and Wrote \" Coronation \" . \n\nA Westerly View of the Colleges in Cambridge . \n\nThe Hancock Tavern, where Talleykand Stayed \nwhile in Boston . . ^ . . . . \n\nCraigie House, Cambridge ..,,.. \n\nJulien's , , . . \n\n\n16 \n\n41 \n58 \n83 \n86 \n\n92 \n\n99 \n109 \n112 \n120 \n133 \n145 \n155 \n\n174 \n\n258 \n\n333 \n365 \n\n376 \n378 \n404 \n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv \n\nIxTERioR OF King's Chapel Page 408 \n\nPark Street Church \" 414 \n\nThe Boston Theatre on Federal Street ...\" 430 \n\nJohn Howard Payne as \" Young Norval \" . . . \" 441 \nPlay Bill of Wallack's Appearance at the Federal \n\nStreet Theatre ........\" 452 \n\nFrom the collection of Edwin Fay Rice. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS \n& WAYS \n\n\nCHAPTER I \n\nTHE MASTER OF THE PUPPETS \n\nAN interesting essay might be written on \nthe Scape-goats of History and in such \na work a prominent place should be \ngiven to Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant-gov- \nernor of Massachusetts in 1760 and throughout \nthe most trying period, — from the point of \nview of a King's man, — in the whole history \nof the colonies. Hutchinson was not at all a \nbad sort of person. He was honest, sincere, \ndevoted, and he did faithfully his duty as he \nsaw it. His error was simply that which is being \nmade all around us to-day by men high in au- \nthority — as he was : distrust of the common \npeople. Of course it is true, as James K. Hosmer \nhas tersely said, that \" Hutchinson ought to \nhave known how to choose better, sprung as \nhe was from the best New England strain and \n\n\n2 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nnurtured from his cradle in the atmosphere of \nfreedom.\" But Hutchinson was the type of \nman who could not see beyond his own door- \nyard. And in that dooryard some very un- \npleasant things had happened to him and his. \n\nPrejudice has so warped our judgment that \nmost of us to-day credit Hutchinson with ad- \nvocacy of the Stamp Act, just as the mob who \ndestroyed his beautiful house did. Yet, from \nthe first, he believed and declared that the \nKing had made a great mistake in instituting \nthis measure in the colonies. But he was the \nsworn servant of the crown and he conceived \nit to be his sacred duty to oppose the acts of \nunlawfulness which were being perpetrated on \nall sides. In the first great \" strike \" of the Bos- \ntonians, — the refusal of the people to use \nstamped paper, — he took exactly the position \nthat law-abiding citizens everywhere take to- \nday, i. e. he condemned, with all the strength \nwhich he possessed, outbreaks of \" mob vio- \nlence.\" As a result he was credited with \" stand- \ning for \" the particular measure involved, — \nand had to pay the price. \n\nWliile feeling about the Stamp Act was at \nfever heat a sermon preached against violence \nwas interpreted by a half-drunken mob, who \nhad heard only rumors of it, as urging them to \nresent the Act. Wliereupon they literally tore \nto pieces the house of Thomas Hutchinson, the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 3 \n\noutward and visible sign of Crown Authority \nin America. I have in a previous book ^ quoted \nentire the graphic letter written by Hutchinson \nto Richard Jackson on October 30, 1765, \nimmediately after this disgraceful episode, and \nI challenge anyone, after reading what was \ndone on that occasion, to declare without justi- \nfication Hutchinson's firm conviction that the \npeople of Boston stood in great need of author- \nitative government. \n\nWhat Hutchinson did not take into account, \nof course, was the power of such men as George \nWashington and Samuel Adams to inspire in \nthe unruly individuals who swayed the turbu- \nlent mass a sense of dignity, of fair-dealing and \nof responsibility. It is indeed to the vitalizing \ninfluence of the man whom Hutchinson deri- \nsively termed, \" the master of the puppets,\" \nthat we of to-day owe chiefly that change of \nheart on the part of the Bostonians which made \npossible the effective resistance of the Revo- \nlution. \n\nAdams, \" the man of the town meeting,\" \nas he has come to be generally called, is a char- \nacter whom one has to know well to estimate \nfairly. He certainly was overweeningly mas- \nterful at times and one frequently detects in \nhim a Jesuitical tendency to justify the means \nby the end which it is not easy to square with \n\ni[See \" St. Botolph's Town,\" p. 351.] \n\n\n4 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\none's idea of simple honesty. Moreover, his \ntrembUng hands and weak voice, — due to a \ncertain paralytic affection, — make him not at \nall the imposing hero of swash-buckling ro- \nmance; there is indeed absolutely nothing of \nglamor in his personality. If, however, we put \nthe emphasis upon the things the man did \nrather than upon the way he looked, and upon \nthe cause for which he was laboring rather than \nupon the sometimes unworthy means he took \nto accomplish his purposes, we must admire \nhim in spite of ourselves. Nor need we make \na butt of Hutchinson in order to do this. Each \nwas sui generis and while the lieutenant governor, \nwho lacked faith in the folk-mote, was spending \nhis scant leisure hours collecting material for \nhis valuable and wonderfully judicial works on \nNew England history, Samuel Adams was mak- \ning friends with the common people, — talking \nwith them at their work and drinking flip with \nthem at humble taverns after their work was \ndone. \n\nWith Samuel Adams it seems to have been \nscarcely a question of choice. To protest against \nsovereign authority, as opposed to the folk-mote, \nappears to have been the logical expression of \nthe man's own nature. There had been no \nencroachments to stir his blood to indignant \nprotest when, at twenty-one, he chose for the \nsubject of his master's thesis at Harvard the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 5 \n\nquestion: \" Whether it be lawful to resist the \nSupreme Magistrate, if the Commonwealth \ncannot otherwise be preserved,\" and argued, \nin the presence of Governor Bernard and other \ndignitaries of the Crown, that such resistance \nwould be the most natural thing in the world. \nAdams believed in the folk-mote, as he did in \na Supreme Being. To defend the one was as \nnatural to him as to reverence the other. To \nunderstand Samuel Adams we must, therefore, \nunderstand the Town Meeting. \n\nGordon, a writer of the period, has this to \nsay of the units which, at the time of the Revo- \nlution, made up Massachusetts: \" Every town \nis an incorporated republic. The selectmen, \nby their own authority, or upon the application \nof a certain number of townsmen, issue a war- \nrant for the calling of a town meeting. The \nwarrant mentions the business to be engaged in \nand no other can be legally executed. The in- \nhabitants are warned to attend; and they that \nare present, though not a quarter or a tenth of the \nwhole, have a right to proceed. They choose a \npresident by the name of moderator, who reg- \nulates the proceedings of the meeting. Each \nindividual has an equal liberty of delivering his \nopinion, and is not liable to be silenced or brow- \nbeaten by a richer or greater townsman than \nhimself. Every freeman or freeholder gives \nhis vote or not, and for or against as he pleases; \n\n\n6 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nand each vote weighs equally, whether that of \nthe highest or lowest inhabitant.\" . . . All \nthe New England towns were on the same plan \nin general and, at this particular time, there \nwere in Massachusetts (which then included \nMaine also) more than two hundred towns \ncontaining in all 210,000 white inhabitants. \n\nThe town of towns among all these was of \ncourse Boston, which, though it had now lost \nthe distinction of being the largest town in \nAmerica, still remained the intellectual head \nof the country. Its common schools, in which \nSamuel Adams prepared for college, — and which \nhe visited as a committeeman from 1753, — gave \nevery child a good education; and Harvard \nwas practically a Boston institution then as it is \ntoday. The ministry still continued to be the \nprofession which attracted a number of the \nablest intellects turned out by Harvard, and \nof these the best men were selected for Boston \npulpits. But no minister stood out preeminent \nin politics now as in the time of the Mathers, for \nthe merchants were fast coming to the fore and \nlaw was just beginning to be recognized as a \nprofession worthy of an educated man. Samuel \nAdams was a maltster and, very likely, could \nhave made a comfortable fortune for himself had \nhe devoted to business the attention which he \nbestowed upon the pursuit of liberty for all \nmen. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 7 \n\nAt the bottom of the social scale, in the Boston \nof that day, were the negro slaves. The columns \nof the newspapers contain many advertisements \nof slaves for sale and of runaways sought by their \nmasters. But these slaves were, most of them, \nfamily servants whose rights were carefully \nguarded and, soon after the Revolution, slavery \nbecame extinguished in Massachusetts. Few \nof the negroes were workmen at trades. Labor \ntherefore was brought into no disrepute by their \npresence, and of all the classes in the com- \nmunity the men who worked with their hands \nwere, in many ways, the most interesting, the \nmost virile. The caulkers were bold politi- \ncians, and the ropewalk men were always to \nthe fore when there was a redcoat to be harried \nor a gathering at the Liberty Tree to be sus- \ntained by their vigorous presence. These men \nit was who, by the eflScient way in which they \ndid their day's work, enabled John Hancock \nand his kind to flourish and amass wealth. \nCopley, wi\\h his artist's insight, understood \nthis very well, and when he painted a merchant \nprince, sitting in a carved chair with a chart of \nthe distant seas spread out on the table before \nhim, he very often gave a glimpse through the \nwindow of a busy wharf or a full-rigged ship, \nwith its hint of sinewy men enlisted for hard, \ncapable service. As a result of their work he \nseemed to say, these merchant princes can be \n\n\n8 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\npainted in velvet breeches, silk stockings, and \nfinely plaited linen stocks. \n\nIt was Boston's commercial prosperity which \nmade possible the social life thus described by \nBennett, an English visitor whom Scudder \nquotes: \"Every afternoon, after drinking tea, \nthe gentlemen and ladies walk in the Mall, and \nfrom thence adjourn to one another's houses \nto spend the evening, — those that are not dis- \nposed to attend the evening lectures; which \nthey may do, if they please, six nights in seven \nthe year round. What they call the Mall is a \nwalk on a fine green or common adjoining to \nthe south-west side of the town. It is near \nhalf a mile over with two rows of young trees \nplanted opposite to each other with a fine foot- \nway between, in imitation of St. James Park; \nand part of the bay of the sea which encircles \nthe town, taking its course along the north-w^est \nside of the Common, — by which it is bounded \non the one side and the country on the other, — \nforms a beautiful canal in view of the walk. \n\n\"Their rural diversions are chiefly shooting \nand fishing. For the former the woods afford \nthem plenty of game; and the rivers and ponds \nwith which this country abounds yield them \ngreat plenty as well as variety of fine fish. The \ngovernment being in the hands of dissenters they \ndon't admit of plays or music-houses; but of \nlate they have set up an assembly to which \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 9 \n\nsome of the ladies resort. But notwithstanding \nplays and such like diversions do not obtain \nhere, they don't seem to be dispirited nor moped \nfor want of them, for both the ladies and gentle- \nmen dress and appear as gay, in common, as \ncourtiers in England on a coronation or birth- \nday. And the ladies here visit, drink tea, and \nindulge every little bit of gentility to the height \nof the mode, and neglect the affairs of their \nfamilies with as good a grace as the finest ladies \nin London.\" \n\nOf course it was rich folk whom the visitor \nhas here depicted, people who had their por- \ntraits painted, and attended such dinners as \nthat given by Ralph Inman (on July 16, 1772) \nand thus described by John Rowe : \" I went early \nto Mr. Inman's who made the genteelest En- \ntertainment I ever saw on acct of his son George \ntaking his Degree yesterday — he had three \nhundred and forty seven Gentlemen & Ladies \ndined. Two hundred & Ten at one Table — \namongst the Company The Govr & Family, \nthe Lieut Governour & Family, The Admirall \n& Family & all the Remainder, Gentlemen \n& Ladies of Character & Reputation. The \nwhole was conducted with much Ease & Pleas- \nure & all Joyned in making each other Happy \n— such an entertainment has not been made \nin New England before on any Occasion.\" \n\nThe common people and their contact with \n\n\n10 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe social life of the time are more adequately \nrepresented in Bennett's picture of an eighteenth \ncentury Sunday in Boston. \" Their observa- \ntion of the Sabbath (which they rather choose \nto call by the name of the Lord's Day, whenso- \never they have occasion to mention it) is the strict- \nest kept that ever I saw anywhere. On that \nday no man, woman or child is permitted to go \nout of town on any pretence whatsoever; nor \ncan any that are out of town come in on the \nLord's Day. The town being situated on a \npeninsula there is but one way out of it by land ; \nwhich is over a narrow neck of land at the south \nend of the town, which is enclosed by a forti- \nfication and the gates shut by way of prevention. \nThere is a ferry, indeed, at the north end of \nthe town; but care is taken by way of preven- \ntion there also. \n\n\" And as they will by no means admit of \ntrading on Sunday, so they are equally tenacious \nabout preserving good order in the town on \nthe Lord's Day: and they will not suffer any \none to walk down to the waterside, though some \nof the houses are adjoining to the several wharfs, \nnor, even in the hottest days of summer, will \nthey admit of anyone to take air on the Common \nwhich lies contiguous to the town, as Moor- \nfields does to Finsbury. And if two or three \npeople who meet one another in the street by \naccident stand talking together, if they do not \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 11 \n\ndisperse immediately on the first notice they \nare Hable to fine and imprisonment. But that \nwhich is the most extraordinary thing is that \nthev commence the Sabbath from the setting: of \nthe sun on the Saturday evening; and, in con- \nformity to that, all trade and business ceases, \nand every shop in the town is shut up: even a \nbarber is finable for shaving after that time. \nNor are any of the taverns permitted to enter- \ntain company; for in that case, not only the \nhouse, but every person found therein is fin- \nable. . . . \n\n\" As to their ministers, there is no compulsory \ntax upon the people for their support, but every- \none contributes according to their inclination \nor ability; and it is collected in the following \nmanner: every Sunday, in the afternoon, as \nsoon as the sermon is ended, and before the \nsinging of the last psalm, they have a vacant \nspace of time, on which there are three or four \nmen come along with long wooden boxes which \nthey present to every pew for the reception of \nwhat every one is pleased to put in them. The \nfirst time I saw this method of collecting for \nthe parson, it put me in mind of the waiters \nat Sadler's Wells, who used to collect their money \njust before the beginning of the last act. But \nnotwithstanding they thus collect the money \nfor the maintenance of the clergy in general, \nyet they are not left to depend entirely upon \n\n\n12 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe uncertainty of what people shall happen to \ngive, but have a certain sum paid them every \nMonday morning whether so much happens \nto be collected or not; and no one of them has \nless than a hundred pounds sterling per annum, \nwhich is a comfortable support in this part \nof the world.\" \n\nThe total population of the Boston thus \ndescribed was now about sixteen thousand \npeople. Practically all of these people were \nreaders and there were newspapers to suit \nevery stripe of political persuasion. The people \nmay be said to have edited their papers them- \nselves, for instead of the impersonal articles \nof the modern journal the columns of the press \nwere given over, — after the news and adver- \ntisements had been inserted, — to letters signed \nby such pseudonyms as \" A Chatterer,\" \" Vin- \ndex,\" \" Philantrop \" and so on. Adams con- \ntributed constantly to the Boston Gazette, whose \nbold proprietors, Edes and Gill, made their \nsheet the voice of the patriot sentiment and \ngave their office to be a rallying point for the \npopular leaders. \" Vindex \" is a favorite sig- \nnature of Adams about this time. The follow- \ning letter, prepared for the anniversary of the \nrepeal of the Stamp Act and printed in the \nProvidence Gazette as well as in the publication \nof Edes and Gill, shows that Adams made no \nmistake in using his pen as a weapon: \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 13 \n\n'* When I consider tlie corruption of Great \nBritain, their load of debt, — their intestine \ndivisions, tumults and riots, — their scarcity \nof provisions and the contempt in which they \nare held by the nations about them; and when \nI consider, on the other hand, the State of the \n\n\nTHE LIBERTY TREE \n\n\nAmerican Colonies with Regard to the various \nClimates, Soils, Produce, rapid Population, \njoined to the virtue of the Inhabitants, — I \ncannot but think that the Conduct of Old Eng- \nland towards us may be permitted by Divine \nWisdom, and ordained by the unsearchable \nprovidence of the Almighty for hastening a \nperiod dreadful to Great Britain. \n\n\" A Son of Liberty.\" \n\n\n14 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nHow inevitable it was that Adams should \nclash with Hutchinson we can easily see by \nplacing alongside this extract a passage from \na letter written not long after this, by the gov- \nernor to a kinsman in Dublin, and pointing out \nthat \" the supreme absolute legislative power \n7nust remain in England.\" So, in the deepening \nstrife, the Defender of Prerogative and the Man \nof the Town Meeting confront one another. \n\n\nCHAPTER II \n\nTHE CHALLENGE TO THE CROWN \n\nSHIPS of war, some little time before this, \nhad cast anchor in the harbor, and two \nregiments were now (1770) encamped on \nthe Common further to ensure the execution \nof the royal will. The cause of the coming of \nthe troops had been the defiance by the Massa- \nchusetts legislature of the king's command to \nrescind a certain circular letter which had been \nsent out by Samuel Adams with the unmis- \ntakable purpose of securing the cooperation \nof the other colonies in resistance to the Town- \nshend Acts. The king desired above all things \nto prevent any such union as this, and it oc- \ncurred to him that he could do much to head \nit off by frightening the patriots with redcoats. \nBut Parliament had its own quarrels with \nGeorge III, and would not easily consent to \nthis course. Accordingly, some excuse was \nneeded to justify the unusual measure. The \nsacking of Hutchinson's house was made so \nto serve. Then, in June, 1768, there was a \n\n\n16 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsliglit conflict between townspeople and revenue \noflicers, in which no one was hurt, but which \nled to a great town meeting in the Old South \nMeeting-House, and gave color to Governor \nBernard's complaint that Boston was a dis- \norderly town, and that he was being intimidated \nand hindered in the execution of the laws there. \n\n\n~v \n\n\nTHE CASTLE (fORT INDEPENDENCE) AS IT LOOKS TO-DAY \n\n\nYet the king's real purpose in sending the \ntroops was, as has been hinted, to force the \npeople to observe the odious Townshend Acts. \nThis being the case the arrival of the soldiers \nsimply increased, of course, the danger of dis- \nturbance. Moreover, even according to British- \nmade law, the men should have been lodged in \nCastle William down the harbor. The trouble \nwhich immediately ensued may be directly \ntraced indeed to the infringement of this pro- \nvision. For encounters between the soldiery \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 17 \n\nand the townpeople soon became frequent, \nand in September, 1769, James Otis was bru- \ntally assaulted at the British Coffee House \nby one of the commissioners of customs, aided \nand abetted by two or three army officers. \nOtis eventually became insane from being- \nstruck on the head in this affray, and the feeling \nof the people toward the soldiers naturally in- \ncreased in bitterness. \n\nThe Boston Massacre was, then, as inevitable \nas the explosion of a cask of powder into which \na lighted match has been thrown. For a week \nthere had been collisions here and there \nthroughout the town, and the affair before \nthe Custom-house on King Street, in the \ncourse of which seven of Captain Preston's \ncompany fired into the crowd, killing five men \nand wounding several others, was but the \nlogical climax to wh^t had gone before. The \nslaughter of those five men, — one of whom \nwas Crispus Attucks, now memorialized on \nBoston Common, — secured in a moment what \na year and a half of decorous protest had failed \nto accomplish, — the withdrawal of the troops \nto the Castle. Hutchinson had to do this in \nspite of himself, for Samuel Adams, at the head \nof a committee just appointed by an immense \nmass-meeting in the Old South Church, came \nto him in the council chamber of the Town \nHouse and, in the name of three thousand free- \n\n\n18 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmen, commanded the removal of the soldiers. \nWhen the news of this move reached Parliament \nthe two regiments thus summarily withdraw^n \nat the request of a mere citizen were dubbed by \nLord North the \" Sam Adams's regiments.\" \n\nYet, so strong still was self-restraint and a \nsense of justice in the community, that Captain \nPreston and his men had a fair trial, their \ncounsel being people of no less importance than \nJohn Adams and Josiah Quincy. Six of the \nsoldiers, together with the captain, were ac- \nquitted; the two men who were found guilty \nwere branded on the hand. \n\nIn the diary of Deacon John Tudor, — a rare \nand privately published work, — I have come \nupon what seems a contemporary and an emi- \nnently fair account of this historic encounter: \n\" March, 1770, On Monday evening the 5th \ncurrent, a few Minutes after 9 O'Clock a most \nhorrid murder was committed in King Street \nbefore the Custom house Door by 8 or 9 Sol- \ndiers under the Command of Capt Thos Preston \nof from the Main Guard on the South side of \nthe Town House. This unhappy affair began \nby Some Boys & young fellows throwing Snow \nBalls at the sentry placed at the Customhouse \nDoor. On which 8 or 9 Solders Came to his \nassistance. Soon after a Number of people \ncollected, when the Capt commanded the Sol- \ndiers to fire, which they did and 3 Men were \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 19 \n\nKil'd on the Spot & several Mortaly Wounded, \none of which died next morning. The Capt \nsoon drew off his Soldiers up to the Main Guard, \nor the Consequencis mite have been terable, \nfor on the Guns fiering the people were alarm 'd \n& set the Bells a Ringing as if for Fire, which \ndrew Multitudes to the place of action. Levt \nGovernor Hutchinson, who was Commander \nin Chefe, was sent for & Came to the Council \nChamber, were some of the Magistrates at- \ntended. The Governor desired the Multitude \nabout 10 O'clock to sepperat & go home \npeaceable & he would do all in his power that \nJustice shold be don &c. The 29 Regiment \nbeing then under Arms on the south side of the \nTownhouse, but the people insisted that the \nSoldiers should be ordered to their Barracks 1st \nbefore they would' sepperat, Which being don \nthe people sepperated aboute 1 O'Clock. Capt \nPreston was taken up by a warrent given to the \nhigh Sherif by Justice Dania & Tudor [the \nwriter of the Diary] and came under Exam- \nination about 2 O'clock & we sent him to \nGoal soon after 3, having Evidence sufficient \nto commit him on his ordering the soldiers to \nfire; So aboute 4 O'Clock the Town became \nquiet. The next forenoon the 8 Soldiers that \nfired on the inhabitants was also sent to Goal. \n\" Tuesday a. m. the inhabitants mett at \nFaneuil Hall & after some pertinant speeches. \n\n\n20 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nchose a Comixiittee of 15 Gentlemen to waite \non the Levt Governor in Council, to request \nthe immediate removeal of the Troops. The \nmessage was in these Words. That it is the \nunanimous opinion of this Meeting that the \ninhabitants & soldiery can no longer live to- \ngether in safety; that nothing can Ratonaly \nbe expected to restore the peace of the Town \n& prevent Blood & Carnage but the removal \nof the Troops : and that we most fervently pray \nhis Honor that his power & influence may be \nexerted for their instant removal. His Honor's \nReply was. Gentlemen I am extremely sorry \nfor the unhappy difference & especially of the \nlast Evening & Signifieng that it was not in \nhis power to remove the Troops &c &c. \n\n\" The Above Reply was not satisfactory to \nthe Inhabitants, as but one Regiment should \nbe Removed to the Castle Barracks. In the \nafternoon the Town Adjourned to Dr. Sewill's \nMeetinghouse [the Old South], for Fanieuil Hall \nwas not larg enough to hold the people, their \nbeing at least 2,000, some supos'd near 4,000, \nwhen they chose a Committee to waite on the \nLevt. Governor to let him & the Council Know \nthat nothing less will satisfy the people than a \ntotal & immedaiate removal of the Troops \noute of the Town. — His Honor laid before \nthe Council the Vote of the Town. The Council \nthereon expressed themselves to be unanimously \n\n\nI fir rnh.-s.-' mm ai i Uy \n\njf|ui!3'^ 1,1 cl can ot^t ttpi Lule \np [ Wii ifti G lU j> oH/laurtj inch -u thcT \nILrl^itric* 1 cojaousTcsrs f 6r Ci- 1 fli er{ \n\n\nPAIL UEVEUE's f:XGRAVIXG OF THE BOSTON 3IASSACRE. \n\nPage 17 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 21 \n\nof opinion that it was absolutely Necessary for \nhis Majesty service, the good order of the Town \n&c that the Troops Should be immeditly re- \nmoved oute of the Town. \n\n\n\" His Honor Communicated this advice of \nthe Council to Col Dalrymple Sz desir'd he \nwould order the Troops down to Castle William. \nAfter the Col. had seen the Vote of the Council \nHe gave his Word & honor to the Town's \nCommitte that both Regiments should be re- \nmov'd without delay. The Comte return'd to \nthe Town Meeting & Mr. Hancock, chairman \nof the Com'te Read their Report as above, \nwhich was received with a shoute & clap of \nhands which made the Meetinghouse Ring: So \nthe Meeting w^as dessolved and a great number \nof Gentlemen appear 'd to Watch the Center \nof the Town & the prison, which continued \nfor II Nights and all was quiet again, as the \nSoldiers was all moved of to the Castle.\" \n\nBut the Yankee dead of that fifth of March \nwere buried with a great funeral procession \nin the Granary Burying Ground and on each \nfifth of March after that, until the celebration \nof July 4th came to take its place, the day of the \nmassacre was observed at Boston in stirring \npatriotic addresses. \n\n\n22 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nBefore the news of the massacre had reached \nEngland, on the very day indeed of the event, \nLord North brought in a bill to repeal the duties \nwhich the Bostonians so deeply resented with the \nexception of that on tea. This the king insisted \nupon retaining in order to avoid surrendering the \nprinciple at issue. The first effect of the royal \ngenerosity was to weaken the spirit of opposi- \ntion in America and to create a division among \nthe colonies. For the greater part of the Ameri- \ncans were desirous, after the fashion of mankind \neverywhere, to let things go on peaceably if \npossible. Hutchinson shrewdly observed, in \nJune, 1772, that the union of the colonies seemed \nto be broken and he hoped it would not be re- \nnewed, for he believed it meant separation \nfrom the mother country, and that he regarded \nas the worst of calamities. \n\nAlready Dr. Franklin, the ablest man to whom \nBoston had ever given birth, had been ap- \npointed agent of Massachusetts in England and \nwas striving in every way he could to harmonize \nthe interests of the two contestants. \n\nHis efforts in this direction w^ere variously \nreceived. In his Journal for \" Wednesday \n16 January, 1771,\" one reads: \"I went this \nmorning to wait on Lord Hillsborough. The \nporter at first denied his Lordship, on which \nI left my name and drove off. But before the \ncoach got out of the square the coachman came \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 23 \n\nand said, ' His Lordship will see you, sir.' I \nwas shown into the levee room where I found \nGovernor Bernard, who, I understand, at- \ntends there constantly.\" Bernard and Frank- \nlin were not fond of each other, neither being \nable, truth to tell, to do the other justice. More- \nover, Bernard and Hutchinson were friends \nand Franklin was bent, as subsequent develop- \nments showed, upon the removal from office \nof the author of the \" Hutchinson letters.\" \n\nIn the autumn of 1772, an extra session of \nthe assembly was wanted to consider what \nshould be done about having the judges paid \nby the Crown. This Hutchinson refused to call, \nwhereupon Samuel Adams devised a scheme \nby which assemblies were rendered unneces- \nsary. Each town, at his suggestion, appointed \na standing committee which could consult with \ncommittees from other towns and decide upon \nthe action to be taken in case of emergency. \nFrom the fact that the greater part of the work \nof these committees was necessarily done by \nletter they were called \" Committees of Cor- \nrespondence.\" This was the step that effect- \nively organized the Revolution. For now there \nwas always in session an invisible legislature \nwhich the governor had no lueans of stopping. \nThe next step was the extension of the plan \nso that there were committees of correspondence \nbetween the several colonies. From that to \n\n\n24 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\na permanent Continental Congress was an easy \ntransition. \n\nNo sooner was the machinery for resistance \nat hand than there came a magnificent oppor- \ntunity to use it and to challenge the Crown. The \nduty on tea had not been removed, and in Amer- \nica generally no tea was being imported from \nEngland. The colonists were smuggling it \nfrom Holland. Now, unless the Americans \ncould be made to buy tea from England and \npay the duty on it, the king must own himself \ndefeated, — and the East India Company would \nbe deprived of a valuable market. A law was \naccordingly pushed through Parliament au- \nthorizing the exportation of tea without the \npayment of duty in England. As a result, \nit was pointed out, the tea, 'plus the tax imposed \nby the Revenue Act, could be sold in America \nunder the cost of tea smuggled from Holland. \nIt was supposed that the Americans would, \nof course, buy the tea that they could get most \ncheaply. Not yet had it been borne in upon \nthe stupid ministers of the king that those men \nin America were contending for a principle, \nnot looking for a bargain in groceries. \n\nClearly, theirs was the blindness of those who \nwill not see. The attitude of the colonists \ntowards tea had been repeatedly defined. Com- \nmunication was slow in those days, to be sure, \nbut all that happened eventually found its way \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 25 \n\nto the mother country and the news that tea \nwas a tabooed beverage in Boston could not \nhave failed to reach those interested. A meeting \nhad been held at Faneuil Hall in which the men \nhad voted to abstain totally from the use of \ntea (many of them really liked it, too, in those \ndays), and soon the mistresses of four hundred \nand ten families pledged themselves to drink \nno more tea till the Revenue Act was repealed. \nA few days later, one hundred and twenty young \nladies formed a similar league. \" We, the \ndaughters of those patriots,\" said they, \" who \nhave and do now appear for the public interest, \nand in that principally regard their posterity, \n— as such do with pleasure engage with them \nin denying ourselves the drinking of foreign \ntea, in hope to frustrate a plan that tends to \ndeprive a whole community of all that is valu- \nable in life.\" And, not to be behind the Daugh- \nters of Liberty, the students of Harvard College \nbound themselves, in 1768, to use no more of \n*' that pernicious herb.\" \n\nEven the children caught the infection of \nliberty. Hannah Winthrop writes to Mrs. \nMercy Warren, in 1769: \" I went to see Mrs. \nOtis, the other day. She seems not to be in a \ngood state of health. I received a visit lately \nfrom Master Jemmy. I will give you an anec- \ndote of him. A gentleman telling him what a \nFine Lady his mama is & he hoped he would \n\n\n26 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbe a good Boy & behave exceeding well to her, \nmy young master gave this spirited answer, \nI know my Mama is a fine Lady, but she would \nbe a much finer if she was a Daughter of Lib- \nerty.\" It once even fell to the lot of John Adams \nto be rebuked by a Daughter of Liberty for \nhaving called for tea in her house. '* Is it \nlawful for a weary traveller to refresh himself \nwith a dish of tea, provided it has been honestly \nsmuggled or paid no duties ? \" he asked. \" No, \nsir,\" responded the lady. \" We have renounced \nall tea in this place, but I'll make you coffee.\" \nEven the word aroused resentment, it will be \nseen. \n\nIn New York, Philadelphia and Charleston, \nmass-meetings of the people voted that the \nconsignees to whom the East India Company \nhad shipped the odious tea should be ordered \nto resign their offices, and they did so. At \nPhiladelphia the tea-ship was met and sent \nback to England before it had come within \nthe jurisdiction of the custom-house. At Charles- \nton the tea was landed, and as there was no \none to receive it or pay the duty, it was thrown \ninto a damp cellar and left there to spoil. In \nBoston things took a different turn. Three \ntimes the consignees were asked to resign, and \nthree times they refused. Their stubbornness \nis the better understood when we learn that two \nof them were Governor Hutchinson's own sons. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 27 \n\nIt was on Sunday, November 28, 1773, tliat \nthe \" Dartmouth,\" loaded with tea, arrived \nin Boston Harbor. From Rotcli, the owner \nof the vessel, the Committee of Correspondence \npromptly obtained a promise that the ship \nshould not be entered until Tuesday. On \nMonday the towns about Boston were invited \nto attend a mass-meeting in Faneuil Hall. \nAs the result of this and other similar meetings, \nthe firm resolve that that tea should on no account \nbe landed took possession of the people. Two \nother ships soon came to anchor near the \" Dart- \nmouth \" and were guarded, as she was, by a \ncommittee of citizens. The consignees by this \ntime would have been willing to yield, but \nHutchinson would not give a permit to let the \nvessels go sailing back to England. So the days \nwore away and the time was fast drawing near \nwhen the tea would be seized under the law \nand brought on shore. Then came the last day \nand the Collector of Customs still refused ab- \nsolutely to grant a clearance to the ships unless \nthe teas were discharged. \n\nThe next day was December 16, 1773, and \nseven thousand people were assembled in tow^n \nmeeting in and around the Old South Meeting- \nHouse. Eagerly they awaited, in the fast- \ndarkening church, the return of Rotch, who had \nbeen sent out to the governor's house in Milton \nto ask as a last resort for a passport from liim. \n\n\n28 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nAt nightfall the ship-owner returned with the \nword that the governor refused such a passport. \nNo sooner had he made this report than Samuel \nAdams arose and said: \" This meeting can \ndo nothing more to save the country.\" The \nwords were a signal, but they were also a simple \nstatement of truth. For by sunrise the next \nmorning the revenue officers, in the ordinary \ncourse of events, would board the ships and \nunload their cargoes; then the consignees would \ngo to the custom-house and pay the duty, — \nand the king's scheme would be crowned with \nsuccess. \n\nYet not so did things fall out. For, the instant \nthat Adams' words left his lips, a shout was \nheard in the street and some forty or fifty men, \ndisguised as Indians, darted by the door and \ndown towards the wharves, followed l)y the \npeople. Rushing on board the tea-ships, the \n\" Mohawks,\" as they were called, set them- \nselves, in most businesslike fashion, to clearing \nthe vessels of their cargoes. No violence was \ncommitted, no tea was taken. British historians \nare wont to characterize the affair as a riot, but \nit was very far indeed from being that. Henry \nCabot Lodge, in his illuminating book on Bos- \nton, has called the tea-party \" a picturesque \nrefusal \" on the part of the people of Boston \nto pay the tax. \" But,\" he adds, truly, \" it was \nalso something more. It was the sudden appear- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 29 \n\nance, in a world tired of existing systems of \ngovernment, of the power of the people in action. \nThe expression may have been rude and the \nimmediate result trivial, but the act was none \nthe less of the gravest consequence. It was the \nsmall beginning of the great democratic move- \nment which has gone forward ever since, and \nwhich it w^ould have been well for English \nstatesmen who were then concerned with it to \nhave pondered deeply.\" \n\nRetaliation was, however, the only idea that \nthe king and his ministers could then entertain \nand, in spite of opposition on the part of certain \nfar-seeing men in Parliament, two acts to ex- \npress this were passed. One was the Boston \nPort Bill designed to suspend the trade and close \nthe harbor of the town which had dared re- \nbellion. The other w^as the Regulating Act, by \nw4iich the charter of Massachusetts w^as an- \nnulled, its free government swept away and a \nmilitary governor appointed with despotic power \nsuch as Andros had had, nearly a hundred years \nbefore. \n\nOdd that those well-read English ministers \ndid not press to its logical conclusion that analogy \nof Andros! \n\n\nCHAPTER III \n\nTWO ENGLISH CHAMPIONS OF THE DAWNING \nREPUBLIC \n\nAT the time of the Boston Port Bill and \nthe disturbances it entailed, just as at \nthe time of Sir Harry Vane^ and his \ntroubles, one must look at the march of events \nin old England, no less than in New England, in \norder to understand the whole situation. \n\nThe resistance of the Massachusetts men to \nthe tyranny of the king was as much applauded \nby certain great souls in England as by the \npatriots in the other colonies. The quarrel, \nin a word, was not between England and Amer- \nica, but between George III and the principles \nfor which America stood. \n\nOf those principles two Englishmen of great \ndistinction — William Pitt and Charles Fox — \nwere champions. And because every American \nwho cares for the cause of Liberty must be in- \nterested in these men, who braved unpopu- \nlarity for Liberty's sake, I want here to retrace \n\ni[See \" St. Botolph's Town,\" Chapter V.] \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 31 \n\ntheir glorious careers, even if in so doing I run \nsomewhat ahead of my narrative. \n\nThe Wilham Pitt referred to is he whom \nHeber described as \n\n\" Young without follies, without rashness bold, \nAnd greatly poor amidst a nation's gold,\" \n\nnot, of course, the great Earl of Chatham, whose \nspeech on the Repeal of the Stamp Act is the \nglorious heritage of all English-speaking people. \n\" Untarnished Chatham's genuine child,\" the \nsecond Pitt has been called, a son, that is, whose \neloquence, probity and high-minded statesman- \nship serve to render him the peer in history's \npages of even his distinguished father. \n\n\" 1 am glad that I am not the eldest son, I \nwant to speak in the House of Commons, like \npapa,\" is the exclamation attributed to young \nPitt, then a youth of seventeen, when he learned \n(in August, 1776) that his father had become \nEarl of Chatham. It was indeed towards speak- \ning in the House of Commons that all the lad's \nthoughts and hopes were directed. At Eton and \nCambridge he made the orations of history and \nliterature an intimate part of his mental equip- \nment. In these debates, it is interesting to \nobserve, he always studied both sides. His \nfavorite employment, Macaulay tells us, was \nto prepare harangues on opposite sides of the \n\n\n32 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsame question, to analyze them and to observe \nwhich of the arguments of the first speaker \nwere refuted by the second, which were evaded, \nand which were left untouched. This practice \nmade following actual debates in the House of \nCommons as fascinating an occupation to him \nas visiting the circus is to the country lad who \nhas been performing acrobatic stunts with the \nold farm horse. \n\nFox, who was eleven years Pitt's senior, used \nto relate with relish his first meeting with the \ngifted lad. The scene was the steps leading \nup to the throne of the House of Lords, and Pitt \nwas there, with a group of college friends, \nlistening to the debate. Fox, who was already \nthe greatest debater and one of the greatest \norators that had ever appeared in England, \nwas disposed to sit quietly listening. But as \nthe discussion proceeded he was repeatedly \naddressed by Pitt with an eager \" Surely, Mr. \nFox, that might be met thus,\" or \" Yes, but he \nlays himself open to this retort.\" Fox w^as \nnaturally much struck with the precocity of \nthis lad, who, through the whole sitting, seemed \nto be thinkmg only how the speeches on both \nsides could be answered. \n\nWhen Pitt was nineteen he passed, at the \nHouse of Lords, a day ever sad and memorable \nto him, but of the greatest interest to us as Amer- \nicans. For France had just recognized the in- \n\n\n^iHErilS'i''w'''\"ixrr. \n\n\niiiiiiujiimiiiii \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 33 \n\ndependence of the United States, and a great \ndebate was expected. For this reason the Earl \nof Chatham insisted upon being in his place, \nthough his health had of late been wretched. \nHis son supported him to his seat. Scarcely \nhad the aged man risen to address the house \nwhen he fell back in convulsions. A few weeks \nlater he died, and his favorite child and name- \nsake followed his coffin in gloomy pomp from \nthe Painted Chamber to the transept, in West- \nminster Abbey, where his own was destined to \nlie, near that of Fox. \n\nIt was now necessary for William, as a younger \nson, to follow a profession. In the spring of \n1780 he became of age; immediately afterward \nhe was called to the bar, and in the fall of that \nsame year he offered himself as a candidate \nand was returned to Parliament. He meant \nto lose no time in putting into practice his genius \nfor debate. \n\nGeorge the Third was still pursuing his \nobstinate course towards America, and Fox \nand Burke were doing their united best to \noppose the suicidal policy of Lord North. To \nthe support of the colonies Pitt immediately \nadded his voice. On the 26th of February, 1781, \nhe made his first speech to endorse a reform \nmeasure advocated by Burke. Fox, who had \nalready risen to address the house, instantly \ngave way to him, admiring as he settled back \n\n\n34 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nin his place, the self-possession of the young \norator and the exquisite silver voice in which \nhe delivered his perfect but unpremeditated \nsentences. Burke was moved to tears, ex- \nclaiming joyfully: \" It is not a chip of the old \nblock; it is the old block itself.\" And Fox, \nwho had no trace of envy in his make-up, re- \nplied tersely to a member who observed that \nPitt would be one of the first men in Parlia- \nment: \" He is so already.\" \n\nSuch seemed indeed to be the case. Pitt \ncontinued to speak often and eloquently in \nsupport of America, and in spite of the neces- \nsarily unpopular stand he had taken, he was \noffered, when he had scarcely completed his \ntwenty-third year, the great place of chancellor \nof the exchequer! Before he was twenty-five \nhe was the most powerful subject in Europe. \nNow that he occupied a position of enormous \ninfluence his training bore fruit. Through his \nwhole boyhood the House of Commons had \nnever been out of his thought, and whether \nreading Cicero or Thucydides he was training \nfor the conflicts of debate. He could forci- \nbly yet luminously, therefore, present to his \naudience the most complicated, tlie most diflfi- \ncult of subjects. \" Nothing was out of place,\" \nMacaulay records; '.' nothing was forgotten; \nminute details, dates, sums of money were all \nfaithfully preserved in his memory. Even in- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 35 \n\ntricate questions of finance, when explained by \nhim, seemed clear to the plainest man among \nhis hearers.\" \n\nYet when all is said, it was because of Pitt's \nlofty character that his speeches were so great \na success. Save for a hint of pride, he may be \nsaid to have had no faults. He was incapable \nof envy or fear, above any kind of meanness, \nand his private life was absolutely beyond \nreproach. In an age of venality, too, he never \naccepted bounties of any kind; and while he \nwas surrounded by friends upon whom he had \nbestowed titles and rich annuities, he remained \nplain Mr. to the end of his life, and put up with \na very meagre salary. \n\nPitt's love for England was deep and sincere \neven though he had espoused the cause of \nAmerica. To England he devoted all that he had \nof strength and of service. When the battle of \nAusterlitz presaged the extent to which Bona- \nparte Avas later to humble the first nation of \nEurope, Pitt could not rally from the blow. He \ndied January 23, 1806, on the twenty-fifth anni- \nversary of that day when he first took his seat \nin Parliament. For almost twenty of those \nyears he had been first lord of the treasury and \nundisputed chief of the administration. No \nEnglish statesman had ever held supreme power \nso long; none had ever combated the tyranny \nof the Crown so successfully. \n\n\n36 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nCharles James Fox, Pitt's great rival, possessed \nevery charming human quality which Pitt \nlacked. The speeches of Pitt persuade by the \nelegance of their diction, the sincerity of their \nappeal, the loftiness of their tone; those of Fox \ncharm by their warm admiration of everything \ngreat and beautiful, their fierce hatred of what- \never is cruel and unjust. Dr. Johnson said of \nthis orator that he made it a question whether \nthe nation should be ruled by the sceptre of \nGeorge III or the tongue of Fox. Even Pitt, \nrenowned for his coolness and self-possession, \ncould not remain unmoved by the magnetic \nquality of Fox's eloquence. On one occasion \nwhen a Frenchman had been expressing wonder \nat the immense influence wielded by Fox, \" a \nmere gambler and a man of pleasure,\" Pitt re- \ntorted, ^'You have not been under the wand of \nthe magician.\" \n\nAt first Fox used his gifts very much as a \nmagician might. He enjoyed juggling with the \nslow wits of his fellow-members and would speak \nwithout conviction or premeditation upon what- \never subject was up for discussion. To him \nit was only a diverting game in which, by virtue \nof his gift of debate, he always held the best \nhand. His father had been as dissolute and \nunprincipled as the Earl of Chatham was clean- \nhearted and high-minded. As the merest lad \nFox was plunged into such temptations as \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 37 \n\nassailed Pitt at no time in his life. Like Pitt, \nhowever, he was graduated from college at an \nearly age, and, like him also, he entered Parlia- \nment, when little more than a boy. \n\nBut if Fox, during the first five years of his \npublic career, was reckless, in political, as in \nprivate life, he later threw himself with real \nearnestness into the American question. The \nmore he studied it the more his warm heart and \nclear head were touched by the principles at \nstake, and after the election in which his friend, \nthe beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, worked for \nhis return to Parliament, — even bartering kisses \nfor votes, it is said, — he was the colonies' cham- \npion in earnest. \n\nMoreover, he had quarrelled with Lord North, \nso that it suited his inclination as well as his \nconvictions to oppose that personage with all \npossible vigor. When the Boston Port Bill was \nup for debate, he objected that it gave too much \npower into the hands of the Crown; a month \nlater he vehemently denounced the attempt to \ntax the colonists without their consent; just \nbefore this he had cast his first vote with the \nWliig party in favor of repealing the duty on tea. \n\nFox was at his best during the American War. \nThroughout the six years of the War Parlia- \nment he never threw away an opportunity to \nspeak for America, and the whisper that Charles \nFox was on his legs would fill the House in a \n\n\n38 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmoment. To perfect himself in the arts of \nvindictive declamation, he read again the philip- \npics of Demosthenes and, piofiting l^y their tui- \ntion, he would pour upon Lord North such fierce- \nness of personal attack as made the House fairly \nquake with apprehension. It w^as at this period, \ntoo, that he developed that gift of quick retort, \nready wit, clear statement, and dashing attack \nwhich made him the first of parliamentary gladi- \nators. Now that he was really in earnest, he \ncould be much more compelling than heretofore. \nIt was quite in the spirit of a knight of King \nArthur's court that he rode forth to redress \nthe wrongs of America. \n\nYet Fox was never a professional politician \nin the sense that Pitt was. He too greatly \nloved a quiet hour w^ith his books. As he grew \nolder and abandoned his reckless way of living, \nthe joys of Virgil and of gardening seemed to \nhim vastly superior to those of debate. At the \nvery height of his political career, he mthdrew \nfrom public life to enjoy these quiet pleasures \nin the company of his dearly-loved wdfe, and \nonly the encroaching greatness of Napoleon \navailed to lure him again from his idyllic re- \ntreat at St. Ann's Hill. \n\nThe opening of the year 1806, how^ever, \nfound him back in office, doing all that one \nman could to restore peace to England. In \nthis he was not successful; seven months of \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 39 \n\nnegotiation served indeed to make it clear to \nhim that war between Napoleon and England \nwas inevitable. But he did succeed, that ses- \nsion, in putting through one important measure \nwhich had been dear to Pitt also. Year after \nyear both these great men had raised their \nvoices against the detestable trade in slaves by \nwhich England was being enriched, and now \nthat he had power Fox determined to show that \nhis sympathy with these poor oppressed crea- \ntures was not a mere matter of words. In \nJune, 1806, therefore, he pledged himself to \nintroduce a measure of total abolition. \n\nIt was his last speech in Parliament. Though \nhe did not live to see it a law, he, and he alone, \nmust ever be credited with the measure by which \nit was made a felony for British subjects to \ntrade in negroes. For this, no less than for \nhis service to the colonies, he should be eter- \nnally honored in America. \n\n\nCHAPTER IV \n\nWHEN EARL PERCY LIVED OPPOSITE THE COMMON \n\nOF course the enforcement of the Boston \nPort Bill worked great hardship to the \ntown. Boston was preeminently a tra- \nding centre and, with its commerce cut off, its \nwarehouses empty and its ships idle at the \nwharves, thousands were thrown out of employ- \nment. The other towns along the coast line \nrefused, however, to take advantage of Boston's \nplight, and relief was freely sent to the boy- \ncotted city. \n\nThe legislature met now at Salem, for rebel- \nlious Boston could no longer be the seat of govern- \nment, and to it came, soon after Gage had taken \npossession, a messenger to dissolve its sessions. \nThe members, however, held the door against \nthis messenger and, before he had had a chance \nto deliver his lord's decree, a call to the other \ncolonies had been sent out, — and the first \nstep toward the initial meeting of the Conti- \nnental Congress had been taken. To its sessions \nin Philadelphia John and Samuel Adams were \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 41 \n\nsent as delegates, the absence of the former \ngiving us the first of those remarkable letters \nfrom Abigail Adams to which reference will be \nmade later, and that of the latter supplying \nto Dr. Joseph Warren the opportunity to draw \nup at Milton, in the county of Suffolk, a series \n\n\nTHE SUFFOLK RESOLVES HOUSE, MILTON \n\n\nof resolves which fairly set on foot the Revolu- \ntion, \n\nThese resolves, nineteen in number, were by \nfar the boldest doctrines ever adopted or pro- \nmulgated in America, and probably did more \nthan any one other thing to bring matters to \na crisis. They declared that the sovereign who \n\n\n42 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbreaks his compact with his subjects forfeits \ntheir allegiance. They arraigned as uncon- \nstitutional the repressive acts of Parliament, and \nrejected all officers appointed under their au- \nthority. \n\nThey directed collectors of taxes to pay over \nno money to the royal treasurer. They advised \nthe towns to choose their officers of militia from \nthe friends of the people. \n\nThey favored a provincial congress, and prom- \nised respect and submission to the Continental \nCongress. They determined to act upon the \ndefensive as long as reason and self-preservation \nwould permit, but no longer. \n\nThey threatened to seize every crown officer \nin the province as hostages if the governor \nshould arrest any one for political reasons. \nThey also arranged a system of couriers to carry \nmessages to town officers and corresponding \ncommittees. They earnestly advocated the well- \nknown American principles of social order as \nthe basis of all political action; exhorted all \npersons to abstain from riots and all attacks \nupon the property of any person whatsoever; \nand urged their countrymen to \" convince their \nenemies that in a contest so important, in a \ncause so solemn, their conduct should be such \nas to merit the approbation of the wise, and the \nadmiration of the brave and free of every age \nand country,\" \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 43 \n\nNo sooner had General Gage heard of the \nadoption of these resolves than he sent to Eng- \nhmd for more troops, and began that campaign \nof confiscation which ended in the fight of Lex- \nington and Concord. Before we proceed to \ndiscuss the natural and inevitable outcome \nof these resolves let us, however, examine a little \nthe state of mind of those other officers who \nwere associated with Gage in the difficult task \nof putting down the Bostonians. \n\nThe most interesting personality in the group \nwas he whom we in America know best as Earl \nPercy, a man whose father had voted against \nthe Stamp Act, who was himself opposed to \nthe American war, but who yet felt it to be \nhis dutv to come to America with his reeriment \nwhen orders to that effect were given. To this \nman we are able to come pretty close to-day \nfor we are so fortunate as to have now available, \n— through the diligent scholarship of the late \nEdward Griffin Porter and the careful editing \nof Charles Knowles Bolton, — a number of \nletters sent by Percy to his kinsfolk in England \nduring the period of his Boston service. On \nthe voyage over he had written: \"Surely the \nPeople of Boston are not Mad enough to think \nof opposing us,\" but three months later (July 5, \n1774) we find him recording a fear *' that we shall \nbe obliged to come to extremities ... so extremely \nviolent and wrong-headed are the people.\" \n\n\n44 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nA few days later he adds that \" as General \nGage received orders to remain at Salem, I \nhave been left commanding oflScer of the camp. \n. . . The people here talk much & do little; \nbut nothing, I am sure, will ever reestablish \npeace & quiet in this country, except steadiness \n& perseverance on the part of the Administra- \ntion. . . . The people in this part of the country \nare in general made up of rashness & timidity. \nQuick and violent in their determinations, they \nare fearful in the execution of them unless, \nindeed, they are quite certain of meeting little \nor no opposition, & then, like all other cowards, \nthey are cruel and tyrannical. To hear them \ntalk you would imagine that they would attack \nus & demolish us every night & yet, whenever \nwe appear, they are frightened out of their wits. \nThey begin to feel a little the effects of the Port \nBill & were they not supported by the other \nColonies, must before this have submitted. \nOne thing I will be bold to say, which is, that \nuntil you make their Committees of Corre- \nspondence and Congresses with the other Colo- \nnies high treason & try them for it in England, \nyou must never expect perfect obedience & \nsubmission from this to the Mother Country.\" \n\n\" This is the most beautiful country I ever \nsaw in my life,\" writes Percy, under the head, \n*' Camp of Boston, Aug. 8,\" 1774,\" \"& if the \npeople were only like it, we slid do very well. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 45 \n\nEverything, however, is as yet quiet, but they \nthreaten much. Not that I beheve they dare \nact.\" \n\nA week later, he feHcitates himself upon \nhaving acquired, in the town of which he was \nnow practically the ruler, \" a good house to dine \nin (for we are all obliged to remain at other \ntimes & sleep in camp). By this convenience \nI am enabled to ask the officers of the Line \n& occasionally the Gentlemen of the country, \nto dine with me; & as I have the command of \nthe Troops here, I always have a table of 12 \ncovers every day. This, tho' very expensive, \nis however, very necessary.\" \n\nIn a delightful little brochure called \" Earl \nPercy's Dinner Table,\" Harold Murdock has \npictured for us a typical dinner company at the \nheadquarters of this hospitable host, — situated \nthen at the corner of Winter and Tremont \nStreets, though there is evidence that, at one \ntime, the young oflScer was entertained by \nWilliam Vassall, on Pemberton Hill, in what \nwas later known as the Gardiner Greene man- \nsion. Mr. Murdock is a modern writer and \nthere is no authentic document to support the \nlist of \" those present \" which it has pleased \nhim to draw up. But, so carefully and con- \nscientiously has his little sketch been prepared, \nthat I am very glad of his permission to quote \nfrom it here: \n\n\n40 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\n\" The house occupied by Percy . . . had \nbeen built early in the century, and its windows \nlooked out upon the open pasturage of the \nCommon. Through the thin foliage of those \nyouthful elms which Mr. Paddock planted, \nloomed the crest of Beacon Hill, with its gaunt \nsignal drawn like a gibbet against the sky, \nwhile more to the west and down the slope \nthere was a glimpse of the bright waters of the \nCharles, with the wooded heights of Brookline \nand Newton beyond. The location was most \nconvenient for the Earl, who was always within \na stone's throw of the camps. It is pleasant \nto see him crossing the Common each afternoon \nto do the honors of his mansion, and day by \nday and week by week it is interesting to watch \nhis guests passing in and out of the great door. \nIt opens to officers in scarlet and gold, and to \nofficers in the blue of the Royal Navy, to gentle- \nmen in silks and brocades and to gentlemen in \nvelvet and lace. Old Dr. Caner goes up the \npath, leaning upon his stick, the great coach \nof Colonel Royall lumbers up to the garden gate, \nthe chaise of Judge Lee waits in Winter Street \nto carry His Honor back to Cambridge. \n\n\" And now, as the darkness of an early spring \nday comes on, let us in imagination look into \nEarl Percy's dining-room and see what passes \nthere. The newly lighted candles are burning \nbrightly on the broad table around which the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 47 \n\nEarl's eleven guests are sitting at their ease, all \nbut three in the uniform of the royal army. \nThe dinner is cleared away and the port and \nmadeira are going the rounds. The Earl is \nchatting with a strapping officer on his left \nwhose handsome face is a fair legacy from the \nrace of which he comes. This is Lieutenant- \nColonel Gunning of the 43d Foot. . . . On \nthe right of Lord Percy is a lad of twelve or \nthirteen years, who is the hero of the occasion. \nThis is Roger Sheaffe, son to the faithful cus- \ntoms collector whose memory is abhorred by \nrebellious Boston. He has won his way into \nthe affection of the Earl who has promised to \nsee to it that he gains a commission in his regi- \nment. . . . \n\n\" The rather stout officer who sits beyond \nSheaffe ... is the Hon. Henry Edward Fox, \nthe youngest son of the late Lord Holland, \nand a captain in the 38th Regiment. Any one \nfamiliar with the prominent faces at West- \nminster, at Brook's Club, or on the track at \nNewmarket, would recognize in the Captain \na near kinsman to the celebrated Charles James \nFox. . . . Harry Fox is said to have little of \nhis brother's brilliancy and none of his vices, \nand when the 38th sailed for America Mr. \nHorace Walpole of Strawberry Hill informed \nSir Horace Mann that they took with them \nLord Holland's ' only good son.' . . , Across \n\n\n48 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe table is Captain William Glanville Evelyn \nof the King's Own, a man of quiet, serious \ncountenance marked with the scars of small- \npox. . . . He is flattered and happy to sit at \nEarl Percy's table to-night. Scandal has not \nleft the Captain's name unsullied, and the curi- \nous among his acquaintance would know more \nof pretty Peggie Wright, who has come out to \nhim from England. It is whispered that she \nwas a servant in his father's household. . . . \n\n\" At the foot of the table the Reverend Mather \nByles is discoursing with Major John Pitcairn \nof the Royal Marines, and keeping that staid \nold officer in a state of uproarious laughter. \nPoor Dr. Byles labors under the disadvantage \nof being considered not only a preacher but a \npoet and wit as well. Within the year a doggerel \nrhyme describing the local clergy has gone the \nrounds of Boston, and in the two stanzas de- \nvoted to Byles even his friends admit that a \nlively portrait has been drawn. \n\n\" There's punning Byles provokes our smiles, \nA man of stately parts; \nWho \\qsits folks to crack his jokes. \nThat never mend their hearts. \n\n\" With strutting gait and wig so great. \nHe walks along the streets. \nAnd throws out wit, or what's like it, \nTo every one he meets. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 49 \n\n** Though not of the Church of England Dr. \nByles is in the eyes of the army the most sensible \nas well as the most delightful clergyman in \nBoston. He has correspondents among the \nbrightest literary lights in England, and will \nshow with pride volumes from his library with \nthe loving inscription of his dear friend, the \nlate Mr. Pope of immortal memory. At heart \nan arrant Tory, he has kept his congregation \nin order by asserting that his functions are \nspiritual and that it is not for him to profane \nhis pulpit by discussing the political problems \nof the day. . . . \n\n\" There is that in Major Pitcairn which at- \ntracts the Reverend Byles as it must all men \nwho admire honest simplicity and courage. \nHere in rebellious Boston, hot-headed tow^ns- \npeople affronted by quarrelsome or drunken \nsoldiers are glad to leave their grievances in \nPitcairn's hands for reparation. Blunt and out- \nspoken, he is yet a modest man, and in the long \nyears that have passed since he left his Fifeshire \nhome he feels that he has made little of his life. \n... If the time shall come, which God forbid, \nthat the sword is really drawn in this distracted \nprovince, he will do his full duty to the King \nand will do it humanely by firing low with shotted \nmuskets. In the mean time he is accomplish- \ning as much for peace as any man in Boston who \nwears King George's livery.\" \n\n\n50 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nSuch were some of those whom Earl Percy \nentertained on Winter Street. He himself is \nshown by his pictures, and by letters and ac- \ncounts which have come down to us, to have been \na young man of courage and character, with a \ndelicate high-bred face in which might be dis- \ncerned just a tinge of melancholy, induced, \nvery likely, by his unhappy domestic experience. \nFor it was now five years since he had separated \nfrom that sprightly granddaughter of Lady \nMary Wortley Montagu, whom he had made his \nwife in 1764, and of whom we are given a racy \nglimpse in the Journals and Correspondence \nof Miss Berry. \n\nPercy, not having a wife to whom he could \nsend accounts of his American campaign, ad- \ndressed his letters to his friends and kinsfolk \noverseas. And they, as good fortune would \nhave it, preserved his communications care- \nfully. At first the letters are disposed to under- \nvalue the character and courage of the Americans \nbut, little by little, there creeps in an apprecia- \ntion of the resourcefulness of a people who \ncould cope with a royal army, and parry blows \ninflicted by royal edicts. Under the heading \n\" Camp at Boston, Aug. 21, 1774,\" he says: \n\n\" Their method of eluding that part of the \nAct [which swept away the rights of Massa- \nchusetts under the charter] relating to the town \nmeetings is strongly characteristic of the people. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 51 \n\nTliey say that since the town meetings are forbid \nby the Act, they sliall not hold them, but as they \ndo not see any mention made of county meetings, \nthey shall hold them for the future. They there- \nfore go a mile out of town, do just the same busi- \nness there they formerly did in Boston, call it \na county meeting, & so elude the Act. In short, \nI am certain that it will require a great length \nof time, much steadiness, and many troops, \nto reestablish good order & government. . . .\" \n\nTo his father, a month later. Earl Percy \nwrites: \" Things here are now drawing to a \ncrisis every day. The People here openly \noppose the new Acts. They have taken up \nArms in almost every part of this Province, & \nhave drove in the Govr & most of the Council. \nThe few that remain in the country they have \nnot only obliged to resign, but to take up arms \nwith them. A few days ago, they mustered \nabout 7000 men at Worcester, to wh place they \nhave conveyed about 20 pieces of cannon. ...\" \n\nFor \" the General's great lenity and modera- \ntion,\" Percy is beginning by this time to have \nonly scant respect. He grants that Gage is \nbehaving with exceeding \" discretion and pru- \ndence,\" but he sees clearly, none the less, \nthat the time for temporizing is almost past. \nWith unmistakable pleasure he now writes that \nhis superior officer has \" given orders for forti- \nfying the town.\" \n\n\n52 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nA dawning respect for his opponents, too, \nis discernible in this letter, albeit the same is \nnot very graciously expressed. \" What makes \nan insurrection here always more formidable \nthan in other places,\" he writes, \" is that there \nis a law of this Province wh obliges every in- \nhabitant to be furnished with a firelock, bayo- \nnet, & pretty considerable quantity of ammuni- \ntion. Besides wh, every township is obliged \nby the same law to have a large magazine of \nall kind of military stores. They are, moreover, \ntrained four times in each year, so that they \ndo not make a despicable appearance as soldiers, \ntho' they were never yet known to behave them- \nselves even decently in the field.\" \n\nA pleasant touch of color is lent to Percy's \nnext letter by his astonished reference to the \nIndian summer which Bostonians of to-day \nknow so well. The date is October 27, 1774: \n\" It was so warm yesterday,\" he writes, \" and is \nagain so warm to-day that I am obliged to sit \nwith all my windows open. Nay, even this morn- \ning when I went to visit the outposts at day- \nbreak it was quite mild and pleasant.\" \n\nEarl Percy did his duty scrupulously, and \nthere was probably very good ground for \nDorothy Quincy's complaint that the morning \nexercises of the soldiers interrupted her beauty \nsleep. \n\n\" Things here grow more and more serious \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 53 \n\nevery day,\" confides Percy to a military kins- \nman in England under date of November 1, \n1774. \" The Provl Congress at Cambridge have \nnow come to resolutions which must be attended \nwith fatal consequences to this country. They \nhave voted an army of observation of 15,000 \nmen, & have appointed a committee of 15 who \nare to have the conduct & management of \nthe affairs of this Province; but they are par- \nticularly to take care that proper magazines \nare formed, & that their army is supplied with \neverything proper for carrying on war. \n\n\" They have chose Col. Ward, Col. Preble, & \nCol. Pomeroy, Genls to command this army, \nwh is to be divided for the winter into 3 corps: \none at Charlestown, wh is just on the other side \nof the harbor from Boston, one at Roxbury, \nwh is just at the opposite end of the neck from \nBoston; & one at Cambridge wh is about 6m \ndistant, & wh last place is to be Headquarters. \n\n\" It was for a long time debated in their \ncouncils whether they slid not form an encamp- \nment immediately, on some high ground just \nabove Roxbury, & within random shot of our \nlines : but as the season was so far advanced the \nother plan was thot more advisable. As they \nonly came to this resolution on the 29th of last \nmonth, they have not as yet assembled. If \nthey really slid do so, I take it for granted the \nGenl will think it necessary to deprive them \n\n\n54 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof part of tlieir quarters, at least by burning \nCharlestown and Roxbury directly. \n\n\" These resols they have kept private, for \npretty good and substantial reasons, tho' those \nthey have ventured to publish are not very \nmoderate, as you may see by the enclosed news- \npaper. . . . Gen. Gage (by some conversation \nI have lately had with him on that subject) will, \nI fancy, be very earnest in his solicitations for \nmore troops, & indeed, they will be absolutely \nwanted if we are to move into the country next \nspring to enforce the New Acts. For as this \nplace is the fountain from whence spring all \ntheir mad & treasonable resolves & actions, \nit will be nec'y to leave a large corps here, to \nkeep the town in order & protect the friends of \nGovt.\" \n\nObviously, Earl Percy and his superior officer \nhad been deceived, just as it was meant they \nshould be, into thinking the American force \nmuch larger than it really was at this time. \n\nA letter of Percy's written about Christmas \ntime, 1774, is interesting for its mention of \n\" Mr. Paul Revere, a person who is employed \nby the Committee of Correspondence here as a \nmessenger.\" Little did the writer think that \nRevere would soon, by his intrepidity and skill, \ndefeat one of his own expeditions. The last \nPercy letter before the affair of x\\pril 19 is dated \n\" Boston Apl 8. 1775,\" and begins: \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 55 \n\n\" Things now every day grow more & more \nserious; A Vessel has arrived by accident here \nthat has brought us a newspaper in which we \nhave the joint address of the two Houses of \nParHament to His Majesty; this has convinced \nthe Rebels (for we may now legally call them \nso) that there is no hopes for them but by sub- \nmitting to Parliament; they have therefore \nbegun seriously to form their army & have al- \nready appointed all the Staff. They are every \nday in greater number evacuating this Town \n& have proposed in Congress, either to set \nit on Fire & attack the troops before a reinforce- \nment comes, or to endeavor to starve us. Which \nthey mean to adopt time only can show. The \nGenl however, has received no Acct whatever \nfrom Europe, so that, on our side no steps of \nany kind can be taken as yet. The Weather \nhere for the last three weeks has been cold & \ndisagreeable, a kind of second Winter. ... I \nstill continue to enjoy my Health perfectly & \nhave very much surprised the Inhabitants here \nby going constantly all winter with my bosom \nopen without a Great Coat. They own however \nthat this was a remarkably mild winter.\" \n\nTo the Americans the mildness of the winter \nhad been a great advantage, for it had enabled \nthem to push their plans for resistance faster \nand farther than would otherwise have been \npossible. The Suffolk Resolves had been \n\n\n56 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nadopted in September; on the fifth of October \nthe members of the Massachusetts Assembly \nappeared at the Court House in Salem with the \nintention of holding their meeting there. But \nthey were refused recognition by Gage, where- \nupon they resolved themselves into a Pro- \nvincial Congress and adjourned to Concord. \nThere on October 11, 1774, two hundred and \nsixty members, representing over two hundred \ntowns, took their seats and elected John Han- \ncock president and Benjamin Lincoln secretary. \nTo Gage they promptly sent a message remon- \nstrating against his hostile attitude. That per- \nsonage responded by thundering recriminations \nat them. Shortly afterward, he issued a procla- \nmation denouncing the Congress as \"an un- \nlawful assembly whose proceeding tended to \nensnare the inhabitants of the Province and \ndraw them into perjuries, riots, sedition, trea- \nson and rebellion.\" \n\nThen the Congress adjourned to Cambridge, \nand appointed a committee of public safety, \nof which Hancock, Warren and Church were \nthe Boston members. Even now, though, there \nwas no intention to attack the British troops, \nonly to make preparations for self-defence \nshould that become necessary. In the Massa- \nchusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News Letter \nof February 23, 1775, is published a resolution \npassed at the Provincial Congress in Cambridge \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 57 \n\non February 17, and recommending that the \nmilitia drill as much as possible and that \" sucli \npersons as are skilled in the Manufacturing \nof firearms & bayonets be encouraged dili- \ngently to apply themselves thereto for supplpng \nsuch of the inhabitants as shall be deficient.\" \nThis is signed by John Hancock as president. \n\nFrom this time on events crowd. The fifth \nof March was at hand and Dr. Warren craved the \nprivilege of delivering the customary address, \nin the Old South Meeting-House, in commem- \noration of the Boston Massacre. The actual \ndate having fallen on Sunday, a warrant was \nissued for a town meeting to be held on March \nsixth. The trifling difficulty that town meetings \nwere no longer permissible was got over by the \nannouncement that this was an adjournment \nof the Port Bill Meeting of the June 17 pre- \nceding ! \n\nIt required considerable nerve to speak in a \npatriotic strain just then, for Gage had now \nunder his command eleven regiments of infantry \nand four companies of artillery. He had come \nto the point of using them, too, at least for threat- \nening purposes. Some accounts tell us that the \naisles of the church were so blocked by soldiers \nwhen the hour for Warren's \" Massacre \" \nspeech arrived, that the orator of the occasior^ \nhad to enter through a window back of the> \npulpit. It was known indeed that some at- \n\n\n58 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ntempt was to be made to interrupt the meet- \ning. But Samuel Adams had resolved to keep \nthe peace if it were possible and so, when forty \n\n\nINTERIOR OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH \n\nBritish officers entered, he asked the civilians \noccupying the front seats to yield their places \nto the visitors. \n\nAt one point in the address an officer thus \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 59 \n\nseated held up a few pistol bullets in his open \npalm, but Warren, nothing daunted, dropped \nhis handkerchief upon them and went on with \nhis address. Yet he alluded feelingly to the \n\" ruin \" all around, and exclaimed in the course \nof his remarks: \" Does some fiend, fierce from \nthe depths of hell, with all the rancorous malice \nthat the apostate damned can feel, twang her \ndestructive bow, and hurl her deadly arrows \nat our breast? No, none of these; but how \nastonishing! It is the hand of Britain that \ninflicts the wound. The arms of George, our \nrightful king, have been employed to shed that \nblood which freely should have flowed at his \ncommand, when justice or the honor of his \ncrown had called his subjects to the field.\" \n\nPretty fiery words these, and it seems strange, \nlooking back, that the peace was not disturbed \nby them. It was afterwards learned that an \nattempt was to have been made to seize the \npersons of Adams, Hancock and Warren, and \nthat a certain ensign had been appointed to \ngive the signal for the others by throwing \nan egg at Dr. Warren in the pulpit. But the \nyoung fellow had a fall on the way to the meeting, \nwhich dislocated his knee and broke the egg, \n— on which account the scheme failed. \n\nThe time for blows was not yet quite ripe. \nFrom the newspapers of the day, it would ap- \npear indeed, that, outside of a certain limited \n\n\n60 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncircle, life in Boston was going on much as \nusual. Thomas Turner, a dancing master, \nadvertises for pupils quite as if no such thing \nas war was at hand, and the public entertain- \nments of the day seem to have been well at- \ntended. One advertisement relative to a per- \nformance at a certain concert room is of in- \nterest. No checking system for wraps had then \nbeen devised, and as a result we come on \nsuch a notice as: \" Exchanged, At Concert \nHall, Thursday evening, the 16th of March, \na long new blue Bath coating Surtout, which \nhas a velvet Collar of the same Colour : Whoever \nis possessed of the above is requested the Favor \nto deliver yt to Joe at the British Coffee House, \nor leave it at the Concert Hall, where an old \nshort blue surtout remains.\" \n\nYet this calm was only that which pre- \ncedes the storm. Before March had blown \nitself out, a number of drunken British officers \nwere hacking the fence before Hancock's house \nopposite the Common, and making it necessary \nfor that gentleman to apply for a guard. The \ntime was now close at hand when Hancock \nliimself became the admitted object of a certain \nmilitary manoeuvre still remembered by British \nsoldiers. \n\nTo describe the Battle of Lexington from an \nAmerican standpoint would not fit well into \nthe scope of this chapter, but let us see how \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 61 \n\nEarl Percy regarded it. The official account \nsent by him to General Gage, the next day, was \nwritten at Boston and runs as follows: \n\n*' In obedience to your Excells orders I \nmarched yesterday morning at 9 o'clk, with the \nfirst Brigade and 2 field pieces, in order to \ncover the retreat of the Grenadiers & Light \nInfy, on their return from the Expedition to \nConcord. \n\n*' As all the houses were shut up & there \nwas not the appearance of a single inhabitant, \nI could get no intelligence concerning them till \nI had passed Menotomy, where I was informed \nthat the Rebels had attacked His Majesty's \nTroops, who were retiring, overpowered by \nnumbers, greatly exliausted & fatigued, & \nhaving expended almost all their ammunition. \nAnd about 2 o'clok I met them retiring through \nthe Town of Lexington. \n\n\" I immediately ordered the 2 Field-pieces \nto fire at the Rebels, and drew up the Brigade \non a height. The shot from the cannon had \nthe desired effect, & stopped the Rebels for a \nlittle time, who immediately dispersed, & en- \ndeavoured to surround us, being very numerous. \nAs it began now to grow pretty late, & we had \n15 miles to retire, & only our 36 rounds I ordered \nthe Grenadiers and Lgt Infy to move on first, \n& covered them with my Brigade, sending out \nvery strong flanking parties, wh were absolutely \n\n\n62 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nnecessary, as there was not a stone-wall, or \nhouse, — though before in appearance evacu- \nated, — from whence the Rebels did not fire \nupon us. \n\n\" As soon as they saw us begin to retire, they \npressed very much upon our rear guard, which \nfor that reason I relieved every now & then. \nIn this manner we retired for 15 miles under an \nincessant fire all round us, till we arrived at \nCharlestown, between 7 & 8 in the even, very \nmuch fatigued with a march of above 30 miles, \n& having expended almost all our ammunition. \n\n\" We had the misfortune of losing a good \nmany men in the retreat, tho' nothing like the \nnumber wh, from many circumstances, I have \nreason to believe were killed of the Rebels. \n\n\" His Majesty's Troops during the whole of \nthe affair behaved with their usual intrepidity \n& spirit. ...\" \n\nUnofficially, in a letter to the military friend \nwho was one of his regular correspondents in \nEngland, Percy wrote that of his men sixty-five \nwere killed, one hundred and fifty-seven \nwounded, and twenty-one missing. Of the \nofficers, one was killed, fifteen were wounded \nand two were taken prisoners. \" During the \nwhole affair,\" he then went on, \" the Rebels \nattacked us in a very scattered irregular manner, \nbut with perseverance & resolution. . . . Wlio- \never looks upon them as an irregular mob, will \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 63 \n\nfind himself much mistaken. They have men \namongst them who know very well what they \nare about, having been employed as Rangers \nagnst the Indians & Canadians, & this country \nbeing much covd with wood, and hilly, is very \nadvantageous for their method of fighting. \n\n\" Nor are several of their men void of a spirit \nof enthusiasm, as we experienced yesterday, \nfor many of them concealed themselves in houses, \n& advanced within 10 yds to fire at me & \nother officers, tho' they were morally certain \nof being put to death themselves in an instant. \nYou may depend upon it, that as the Rebels \nhave now had time to prepare, they are deter- \nmined to go thro' with it, nor will the insur- \nrection here turn out so despicable as it is per- \nhaps imagined at home. For my part, I never \nbelieved, I confess, that they wd have attacked \nthe King's troops, or have had the perseverance \nI found in them yesterday. I myself fortunately \nescaped very well, having only had a horse \nshot. ...\" \n\nLord Dartmouth, secretary of state for the \nColonial department, was highly pleased with \nPercy's gallant conduct on this occasion. To \nthe Earl's father, the Duke of Northumberland, \nhe wrote: \" Lord Dartmouth presents his \ncompts to the Duke of Northd & has the honor \nto send His Grace two extracts from private \nletters from Boston, wh have been communi- \n\n\n64 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncated to him. . . . ' Ld Percy has acquired \ngreat honor, he was in every place of danger, \ncool, deliberate, & wise in all his orders.' . . . \n' Ld Percy commanded and behaved with dis- \ntinguished honor, & tho' he was continually \nin a shower of bullets, & an object that was \nmuch aimed at on horseback, came off unhurt.' \nBlacklieath, 11 June, 1775.\" \n\nAs a reward for his gallantry, Percy was made \n\" a Major-General in America,\" the commission \nbeing signed \" at our Court at St. James, 22nd \nJune, 1775.\" He led his men with spirit at the \nattack upon Fort Washington, in November, \n1776, but, from an inability to agree with Howe, \nhe took steps, in 1777, to obtain a recall. Two \nyears later, he was divorced from his first wife, \nLord Bute's daughter, and the same year he \nmarried again, — happily this time, and lived \nto a ripe old age. He seems in many ways the \nablest soldier as well as the most gracious \npersonality, of all the officers of the king who \nwere stationed at Boston. \n\n\nCHAPTER V \n\nTHE SPRIGHTLY CHRONICLES OF JOHN ANDREWS \n\nAT the very time when Earl Percy was \nentertaining Boston Tories in his house \nat the northerly corner of Winter and \nTremont streets a man who was later to occupy \nthat house was writing from his home on School \nStreet a series of letters in which may be found \nthe most racy description available of the Boston \nof just that period. John Andrews — for that \nwas this man's name — was a prosperous mer- \nchant with a good deal at stake, and he was \nby no means hot for war when he began, in \n1772, to send to his brother-in-law in Phila- \ndelphia his impressions of the trend of things. \nBut, as the years went on and the insolent en- \ncroachments of England increased he, as an \nhonest man, came to range himself squarely \non the side of the patriots. Yet he never gives \na warped or one-sided view of the situation, \nand his narrative is relieved by many a touch \nof humor. In its way and for the limited period \nwith which it deals, these letters are almost as \n\n\n66 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nenlightening as is Sewall's Diary concerning \nhis time. I therefore give them here at some \nlength. \n\nAndrews beheved in civic progress; with \nundisguised deUght he writes: \" March 15, 1773, \nour very respectable Town meeting have voted \nto have 300 lamps properly to light this town \n— a thing I have long wished for.\" The next \nday he adds to his journal letter: \" I suppose \nyou must have seen reprinted in your papers \nthe messages passing to and from our Governor \nand house of Representatives respecting the \nmost important matter of right of parliament \nto tax America, which have been very lengthy \non both sides, frequently filling up near a whole \npaper. We have had an innovation here never \nknown before — a Drum or Rout given by the \nAdmiral past Saturday evening, which did not \nbreak up till 2 or 3 o'clock on Sunday morning, \ntheir chief amusement being playing cards.\" \nHow Sewall would have quoted Scripture after \nrecording that! But John Andrews, character- \nistically, presents his gossip without comment, \nand runs it in, with no attempt at easy transition, \nhard on the heels of his politics. \n\nThe sensation aroused by the discharge upon \nBoston of the Hutchinson letters is very inter- \nesting as reflected in this contemporary \nletter : \n\n\" June 4, 1773, The minds of people are \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 67 \n\ngreatly agitated on account of some original \nletters that have been sent from London to the \nGeneral Court that were wrote some three or \nfour years since by the Governor and Lieutenant \nGovernor and Auchmuty &C., very much to \nthe prejudice of the province, and recommending \nor rather urging y« necessity of all ye measures \nwhich have been lately taken with us: also \npointing out the absolute necessity of taking \noff five or six of the leaders in the opposition, \nsuch as Otis, Adams &C enumerating their \nseveral names; without which, they say, it is \nimpracticable to accomplish their plans. The \nLieutenant Governor strongly recommends in \none of his letters his son Daniel as Secretary \nfor y« province. Thus much has transpired \nrespecting them as they are enjoined not to be \npublished.\" \n\nPoor Hutchinson! These were private letters \nwhich he had written to friends in England, \nand which, having by some means fallen into \nthe hands of Benjamin Franklin, — then agent \nof Massachusetts in London, — were sent by \nhim to Hancock. The latter was quick to see \nin the letters a chance to fan to fever heat the \nsmouldering resentment towards the Governor, \nand had given all possible publicity to the un- \nfortunate remarks therein. The letters were \nprinted in Boston June 16, 1773, and as a re- \nsult of what the Americans insisted on reading \n\n\n68 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ninto them a formal petition was sent to the \nking for the removal of their odious writer. \n\nThe militia had now come to the point of \ntraining regularly on the Common, and as \nAndrews sat writing his letter his eyes were \n\" almost every moment taken off with the agree- \nable sight of our militia companies marching \npast. . . . Were you to see them you'd scarcely \nbelieve your eyes, they are so strangely meta- \nmorphos'd. From making the most despicable \nappearance they now vie with the best troops \nin his majesties service, being dressed all in \nblue uniforms, with drums and fifes to each \ncompany dressed in white uniforms trimmed in \nthe most elegant manner; with a company of \nGrenadiers in red with every other apparatus, \nthat equal any regular Company I ever saw \nboth in regard to appearance and discipline, \nhaving a grand band of musick consisting of \neight that play nearly equal to that of the 64th. \nWhat crowns all is the Cadet company, being \nperfectly compleat and under the best order \nyou can conceive of, with a band of musick \nlikewise, that perform admirably well. What \nwith these and Paddock's company of artillery \nmake ye compleatest militia in America ; . . . \nIn addition to all this the Town House is fitted \nup in the most elegant manner, with the whole \nof the outside painted of a stone color, which \ngives it a fine appearance.\" \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 69 \n\nEnter now the dramatis personam of the famous \nTea Drama! ...\" Arrived Saturday evening \n. . . the detested Tea. What will be done with \nit, I can't say : but I tremble for y® consequences \nshould y® consignees still persist in their ob- \nstinacy and not consent to reship it. They have \nsoftened down so far as to offer it to the care \nof the Council or the town till such times as they \nhear from their friends in England, but am \npers waded, from the present dispositions of \ny® people that no other alternative will do, than \nto have it immediately sent back to London \nagain. . . . Y® bells are ringing for a general \nnmster, and a third vessel is now arriv'd in \nNantasket road. Handbills are stuck up, call- \ning upon Friends! Citizens! and Country- \nmen! \n\nSeveral of these handbills are in possession \nof the Massachusetts Historical Society, and \none which was reproduced in Draper's Gazette \nof November 3, 1773, reads as follows: \n\n\" To the Freemen of this and the neighboring \ntowns : \n\n*' Gentlemen, — You are desired to meet \nat Liberty Tree, this day at twelve o'clock at \nnoon; then and there to hear the persons to \nwhom the tea shipped by the East India Com- \npany is consigned, make a public resignation \nof their office as consignees, upon oath; and \n\n\n70 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nalso swear that they will reship any teas that \nmay be consigned to them by said Company \nby the first vessel sailing for London. \n\n\" O. C. Secretary. \n\n' ^S^Show us the man that dare take this \ndown.\" \n\nOn December 1, 1773, Mr. Andrews writes: \n\" Having just return'd from Fire Club, and \nam now, in company with the two Miss Masons \nand Mr. Williams of your place, at Sam. Eliot's, \nwho has been dining with him at Co^. Han- \ncock's and acquaints me that Mr. Palfrey sets \noff Express for New York and Philadelphia \nat five o'clock tommorrow morning, to com- \nmunicate y® transactions of this town respecting \nthe tea. . . . The consignees have all taken \ntheir residence at the Castle, as they still per- \nsist in their refusal to take the tea back. Its \nnot only y® town, but the country are unanimous \nagainst the landing it, and at Monday and \nTuesday Meetings, they attended to the number \nof some hundreds from all the neighboring towns \nwithin a dozen miles.\" \n\nThe next letter, dated December 18, 1773, \nwas all worn to shreds when the editor of the \nseries, Winthrop Sargent, transcribed it. Its \nbattered condition was due, doubtless, to its \nhaving been passed from one curious hand to \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 71 \n\nanother. The matter in it is the most extraor- \ndinary to be found in any original document \nof American history. \n\n\"... Such is the calm composure of the \npeople that a stranger would hardly think that \nten thousand pounds sterling of the East India \nCompany's tea was destroy 'd the night or rather \nevening before last, yet it's a serious truth; and \nif yours together with the other Southern prov- \ninces, should rest satisfied with their quota \nbeing stor'd, poor Boston will feel the whole \nweight of ministerial vengeance. However, its \nthe opinion of most people that we stand an \nequal chance now, whether troops are sent \nin consequence of it or not; whereas, had it \nbeen stored, we should inevitably have had 'em, \n— to enforce the sale of it. \n\n*' The affair was transacted with the greatest \nregularity and dispatch. Mr, Rotch, finding \nhe exposed himself, not only to the loss of his \nship but for y® value of the tea, in case he sent \nher back without it [the tea], without a clearance \nfrom the custom house as ye Admiral kept a \nship in readiness to make a seizure of it when- \never it should sail under those circumstances; \ntherefore declined complying with his former \npromises, and absolutely declared his vessel \nshould not carry it without a proper clearance \ncould be procured or he to be indemnified for \nthe value of her: — when a general muster \n\n\n72 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwas assembled, from this and all y® neighboring \ntowns, to the number of five or six thousand, \nat 10 o'clock Thursday morning in the Old \nSouth Meeting House, where they passed a \nunanimous vote that the tea should go out of \nthe harbour that afternoon, and sent a committee \nwith Mr. Rotch to y® Custom house to demand \na clearance, which the collector told 'em was \nnot in his power to give, without the duties being \nfirst paid. They then sent Mr. Rotch to Milton \nto ask a pass from y® Governor, who sent for \nanswer that ' consistent to the rules of govern- \nment and his duty to the King he could not \ngrant one without they produced a previous \nclearance from the office.' \n\n*' By the time he returned with this message \nthe candles were light in the house, and upon \nreading it, such prodigious shouts were made \nthat induced me, while drinking tea at home, \nto go out and know the cause of it. The house \nwas so crowded I could go no farther than the \nporch, when I found the moderator was just \ndeclaring the meeting to be dissolved, which \ncaused another general shout, outdoors and in, \nand three cheers. What with that and the \nconsequent noise of breaking up the meeting, \nyou'd have thought that the inhabitants of \nthe infernal regions had broke loose. For my \npart, I went contentedly home and finished \nmy tea, but was soon informed what was going \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 73 \n\nforward: but still, not crediting it without \noccular demonstration, I went and was satis- \nfied. They mustered, I'm told on Fort Hill, \nto the number of about two hundred, and pro- \nceeded two by two to Griffin's wharf, where . . . \nbefore nine o'clock in the evening every chest \nfrom on board the three vessels was knocked \nto pieces and flung over the sides. They say \nthe actors were Indians from Narragansett. \nWliether they were or not, to a transient ob- \nserver they appeared as such, being cloathed \nin Blankets with the heads muffled, and copper \ncolor 'd countenances, being each armed with \na hatchet or axe and pair of pistols. . . . Should \nnot have troubled you with this by this post \nhadn't I thought you would be glad of a more \nparticular account of so important a transaction, \nthan you could have obtained by common \nreport. \n\n\" Sunday evening, I give you joy of your \neasy riddance of the banefull herb; being just \ninformed by the arrival of the post that its \ngone from whence it came. You may bless \nyour stars that you have not a H — n and board \nof Commissioners resident with you. I forgot \nto acquaint you last evening that a brig be- \nlonging to one of the consignees is at shore on \nye back of Cape Cod, drove thither by a storm \nlast Fryday week who has the last quota of \nTea for this place, being 58 chests, which com- \n\n\n74 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\npleats the 400. — Am informed some Indians \nwere met on y® road to Plimouth, which is \nalmost fifty miles this side of Cape Cod. Its \nunlucky that brig has y^ lamps on board \nfor illuminating our streets. Am sorry if \nthey are lost, as we shall be deprived of \ntheir benefit this winter in consequence of \nit. \n\nThe lamps were not lost. John Rowe's \nDiary for March 3, 1774, records: \" Last \nevening the Lamps were Lighted for the first \ntime — they Burnt Tolerable Well.\" \n\n*' April 14, 1774. Have enclosed you the \nanniversary oration delivered by Col. Hancock. \nIts generally allowed to be a good composition \nand asserted to be his own production both \nspirited and nervous.\" \n\nAs a matter of fact this oration was written \nby Samuel Adams. That wise \" mover of the \npuppets \" saw very clearly that it would avail \nmore to the cause if fiery arguments seemed for \nonce to proceed from a rich and well-born \ngentleman like Hancock. (On another occasion \nHancock read as his own a speech which had \nbeen written for him by Theophilus Parsons \nand, when he concluded, one of his friends \nhastily took the manuscript from him that the \nhandwriting might not be observed. Hancock \nappears to have lent himself without scruple \nto these little deceptions, very likely because \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 75 \n\nhe really believed that the *' salvation of the \nnation \" rested upon him, and that any such \nexpedient was, therefore, justifiable.) \n\nGeneral Gage, upon his arrival in Boston, \nwas given a very hearty welcome, — chiefly, \nas it would seem, because he was to supersede \nHutchinson. Andrews describes the affair thus : \n*' Our Militia was yesterday mustered for the \nreception of General Gage, who was pro- \nclaimed Governor, amid the acclamations of \nthe people. He expressed himself as sensible of \nthe unwelcome errand he came upon, but . . . \nwould do all in his power to serve us. Whether \nthey were only words or not of course can't say; \nam a little doubtfull. There was an elegant \nentertainment provided for him at Faneuil \nHall, and after a number of toasts gave by him \nin which the prosperity of the town of Boston \nwas included, he gave Governor Hutchinson, \nwhich was received by a general hiss. . . . \nThe damned arch traitor, as he is called, is \nvery much chagrined at being superseded, as \nits only last Thursday when he gave orders \nfor repairs to his houses in town and country, \nand upon the workman's suggestions that he \nwould be succeeded soon, he said it w^as like \nmany other reports that prevailed, for that he \nhad all the satisfaction he could wish for or \nexpect from home and eveiy part of his conduct \nwas entirely approved of, and left to his option \n\n\n76 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwhether to enjoy the Government or go to \nEngland.\" \n\nThis spectacle of a workman hinting to a \nroyal governor that he has come about to the \nend of his rope is delicious, I think. It shows \nthat the day of democi'acy had very nearly \ndawned in America. \n\nThey that dance must pay the piper, however, \nand Boston was to be charged a very high price \nfor her late contumacy in the matter of the tea. \nJohn Andrews records gloomily on June 12, \n1774: \" They intend to deprive us of all trade \nin the future. . . . Our wharfs are entirely \ndeserted; not a topsail vessel to be seen either \nthere or in the harbor, save the ships of \nwar and transport, the latter of which land \ntheir passengers in this town tommorrow. Four \nregiments are already arrived and four more \nexpected. How they are to be disposed of can't \nsay. Its gave out that if the General Court \ndont provide barracks for 'em they are to be \nquartered on the inhabitants in the fall: if so \nI am determined not to stay.\" \n\nA few months after this Andrews describes \ncategorically what has come to be known as the \nErskine incident, — the shocking conduct of \nfifteen officers \" at a house towards New Bos- \nton improved by one of the Miss Erskines (a \nfamily noted for their hospitality and kindness \nto strangers, in admitting all comers to their \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 77 \n\nb — d and board),\" — an offence against decency \nwhich was promptly reported to Earl Percy, \n\" who expressed himself much displeased with \nthe ofl&cers' conduct, and said he would take \neffectual means to prevent the like behavior \nin future.\" \n\nQuite a Sewall touch may be found, later \nin this same letter (of August 1, 1774), wherein \na wedding is described at which Andrews and \nhis wife \" Ruthy \" were present. \" We were \nentertained with a very pretty collation, con- \nsisting of cold ham, cold roast beef, cake cheese \n&c.\" Then without any break Andrews con- \ntinues: \" Among the innumerable hardships \nwe suffer, that of not being suffered to convey \nany sort of merchandize across the ferry is \nnot the least; whereby we are necessitated to \nreceive every kind of goods from Marblehead \nor Salem via Cambridge, which adds one third \nto the length of the way, which is attended \nwith the expence of eight dollars a load for \nabout 28 or 30 miles, or 40 ' lawful money \nat y® lowest rate it is done for. It is no un- \ncommon thing to hear the carriers and wag- \ngoners, when they pass a difficult place in y® \nroad, to whip their horses and damn Lord \nNorth alternately : — ... I think myself well \noff to take cash enough to supply the necessary \ndemands of my family and you may as well \nask a man for the teeth out of his head as to \n\n\n78 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nrequest the payment of money which he owes \nyou. . . . Notwithstanding which there seems \nto be ease contentment and perfect composure \nin the countenance of almost every person you \nmeet in the streets, which conduct very much \nperplexes the Governor and others, our lords \nand masters, that they are greatly puzzled and \nknow not what to do or how to act, as they \nexpected very different behavior from us. I \nhope we shall have resolution and virtue enough \nto observe a steady course and not give them \nthe least advantage by any misconduct of our \nown, much more to quiet any dissensions among \nourselves that may tend to disturb that harmony \nso necessary to the welfare of us all. \n\n\" August 11. . . . The ultimate wish and \ndesire of the high Government party is to get \nSamuel Adams out of the way, when they think \nthey may accomplish every of their plans: \nbut however some may despise him he has \ncertainly very many friends. For not long \nsince some persons (their names unknown) \nsent and asked his permission to build him a \nnew barn, the old one being decayed, which \nwas executed in a few days. A second sent \nto ask leave to repair his house, which was \nthoroughly effected soon. A third sent to beg \nthe favor of him to call at a taylor's shop and \nbe measured for a suit of cloathes and chuse his \ncloth, which were finished and sent home for \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 79 \n\nhis acceptance. A fourth presented him with \na new whig, a fifth with a new Hatt, a sixth \nwith six pair of the best silk hose, a seventh \nwith six pair of fine thread ditto, a eighth, with \nsix pair shoes, and a ninth modestly enquired \nof him whether his finances want rather low \nthan otherwise. He replyed it was true that was \nthe case but he was very indifferent about these \nmatters so that his poor abilities was of any \nservice to the Publick; upon which the Gentle- \nmen obliged him to accept of a purse containing \nabout 15 or 20 Johannes. I mention this to \nshow you how much he is esteemed here. They \nvalue him for his good sense, great abilities, \namazing fortitude, noble resolution, and un- \ndaunted courage; being firm and unmoved \nat all the various reports which were propagated \nin regard to his being taken up and sent home \nnotwithstanding he had repeated letters from \nhis friends, both in England as well as here, to \nkeep out of the way.\" \n\nThe gift of clothes to which Andrews here \nrefers was for the purpose of making Adams \ndecent for his journey to the Continental Con- \ngress at Philadelphia. \n\n\" Like the African habituated to slavery, I \nbegin now to be a little reconciled to a loss of \nbusiness and an inactive state of life,\" writes \nAndrews humorously under date of August 16, \n1774. This letter is further interesting by reason \n\n\n80 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof its account of an important meeting of \" the \nCadet company at Faneuil Hall. Col°. Hancock \ncommunicated to them a letter he had received \nfrom the Secretary, by order of the Governor, \ndismissing him from any further service as Cap- \ntain of that Company : when they passed a vote \nto return their Colors to his Excellency, and \nacquaint him that they should not in future \nesteem themselves as his body guard; as also \nto deliver their Equipage, Musical instruments \n&c into Colonel Hancock's keeping till some \nfuture time, being determined not to appear \nunder any other leader while he lives, as by \nthe establishment of the Company they have \na right to choose their own officers.\" \n\nEven the rather reluctant John Andrews \nis beginning now to see that a clash of more or \nless seriousness is inevitable. On August 20 \nhe whites: \" When I reflect on the unhappy \nsituation we are in I can't but be uneasy less \nthe trade of the town should never be rein- \nstated again: but, on the other hand, when I \nconsider that our future welfare depends al- \ntogether upon a steady and firm adherence \nto the common cause, I console myself with \nthe thoughts that, if, after using every effort \nin our power, we are finally obliged to submit, \nwe shall leave this testimony behind us, that, \nnot being able to stem the stream, we were of \nnecessity borne down by the torrent. You can \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 81 \n\nhave no just conception,\" he naively continues, \n\" how sensibly I am affected in my business. \nIf you'll believe me (though I have got near \ntwo thousand sterling out in debts and about \nas much more in stock) I have not received \nabove eighty or ninety pounds Lawful money \nfrom both resources for above two months past; \nthough, previous to the port's being shut, I \nthought it an ordinary day's work if I did not \ncarry home from 20 to 40 dollars every evening! \" \n\nAn interesting glimpse of the military dis- \nplay in which the British then in Boston in- \ndulged is afforded by this passage in the letters. \n\n\" At sunset last evening I amused myself \nwith a walk in the Mall, and could not but ad- \nmire at the subservient honors paid his Excel- \nlency, being attended by five or six field officers \nand two or three aid de camps with eight orderly \nsergents at an awful distance in the rear : para- \nding up the street from Sheriff Greenleaf's he \nmet with 'Squire Edson (a mere plow jogger \nto look at) one of the new-fangled refugee coun- \ncellors, whose townsmen at Bridgewater, after \nsome exliortation, thought proper to send him \nto Coventry, nor would they even deign to sing \nye psalm after his reading it, being a deacon \nof the parish, such is the detestation in which \nthey are all held that refuse to resign. His \nExcellency, after about ten minutes earnest \nconversation with him, proceeded to Earl Percy's, \n\n\n82 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwho occupies a house at the head of Winter \nstreet, belonging to Inspector Williams. While \nhe went in his attendants of high and low rank \nstood waiting at the gate like so many menial \nslaves. . . . \n\n\" September the 1st. Yesterday in the \nafternoon two hundred and eighty men were \ndraughted from the severall regiments in the \ncommon and furnished with a day's provision \neach, to be in readiness to march early in the \nmorning. Various were the conjectures re- \nspecting their destination, but this morning the \nmystery is unravelled for a sufficient number \nof boats from the Men of War and transports \ntook *em on board between 4 and 5 o'clock this \nmorning, and proceeding up Mistick river \nlanded them at the back of Bob Temple's house, \nfrom whence they proceeded to the magazine \n[The Old Powder House], situated between that \ntown and Cambridge, conducted by Judge \nOliver, Sheriff Phips and Joseph Goldthwait, \nand are now at this time (8 o'clock) taking away \nthe powder from thence, being near three \nhundred barrells, belonging to the Province, \nwhich they are lodging in Temple's barn, for \nconveniency to be transported to the Castle, \nI suppose. . . . September 3, As a continua- \ntion of the other sheet must observe to you that \nbetween three and four thousand [of our men] \nremained upon the field in Cambridge till night, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 83 \n\nwhen they peaceably returned each one to his \nown house, but not till they had procured a \nwritten acknowledgement from Governor Oliver \nthat he would give up his seat in Councill. . . . \nThey also procured a written obligation from \n\n\nOLD POWDER HOUSE, SOMERVILLE \n\nSheriff Phips . . . that he would not act offi- \ncially in any case upon the principal of y® \nnew establishment. It is worthy remark that \nJudge Lee observed to 'em, after he had made \nhis resignation that he never saw so large a \nnumber of people together and preserve so \npeaceable order before in his life. . . . Sunday \nSeptember the 4th The Commander in Chief \nasked the Lieutenant Governor how many the \n\n\n84 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmob consisted of that were before his house. \nHe told him about four thousand, but they were \nnot a mob by any means, but consisted of the \nleading men in the county and reputable sub- \nstantial farmers.\" \n\nUpon this incident, at the house which was \nafterwards the home of Elbridge Gerry and \nwhich is now a shrine for pilgrims because of its \nassociations with James Russell Lowell, we \nmay well pause for a moment. It is certainly \none of the most remarkable chronicled by \nAndrews. For Thomas Oliver was a great \ndeal of a person and by his marriage to Elizabeth \nVassall he was intimately connected with all \nthe leading Cambridge loyaHst-. Until 1774 \nOliver had had little to do with politics and \nhis appointment by the Crown to the post of \nlieutenant-governor, in that year, was at the \nsuggestion of Hutchinson, who probably thought \nhe would be unobjectionable to the people. \nBut, as Heutenant-governor, he was also pre- \nsiding officer of the so-called \" Mandamus \nCouncil,\" a body which was the special object \nof patriot resentment. The people were resolved \nOliver should resign the post. He, accordingly, \ndid so after the following form : \n\n\" Cambridge, September 2, 1774. \n\" I, Thomas Oliver, being appointed by his \nmajesty to a seat at the Council Board, upon \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 85 \n\nand in conformity to the Act of Parliament, \nentitled An act for the better regulation of the \nProvinces of Massachusetts Bay, which, being \na manifest infringement of the Charter rights \nand privileges of the people, I do hereby, in \nconformity to the commands of the body of \nthe County now convened, most solemnly prom- \nise and engage, as a man of honor and a Chris- \ntain that I never will hereafter upon any terms \nwhatever accept a seat at said board on the \npresent novel and oppressive plan of govern- \nment. My house at Cambridge being sur- \nrounded by about four thousand people, in \ncompliance with their command I sign my \nname \n\n\" Thomas Oliver.\" \n\nGovernor Gage appears to have now decided \nthat the time had come for him to move into \nBoston. On September 8 Andrews writes: \n'* As the Governor, Commissioners, and indeed \nall the Governmental gentry have taken up \ntheir residence in town for the Winter, the 59th \nregiment is expected from Salem immediately. \nThey have fixed the colors and laid out the \nground for their encampment at y® side of y® \nNeck near y® Windmill. Yesterday, between \none and two o'clock p. m. the General, with a \nlarge Parade of attendants, took a survey of \nthe skirts of the town; more particularly that \n\n\n86 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\npart opposite the country shore. Tis supposed \nthey intend to erect Batteries there to prevent \n\n\nMILITARY HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL GAGE \n\nany incursions of the country people from that \nquarter, having effectually secured the Neck \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 87 \n\nby the disposition of the Field Pieces; and their \ncaution extends so far as to have a guard patrole \nRoxbury streets at all hours of the night, as \nwell as another posted at Charlestown ferry \nevery night, after the evening gun fires.\" \n\nA vivid picture of the treatment commonly \nmeted out to the Tories is found in Andrews' \nletter of September 9. \n\n\" Colonel Frye of Salem , , . has resigned \nall his posts of honor and profit. Indeed neces- \nsity obliged him to as he and his family were \nin danger of starving; for the country people \nwould not sell him any provisions, and the in- \nhabitants, however well disposed any might \nbe to him, dare not procure him any. , . . The \npresent temper of the people throughout the \nProvince is such that they won't suffer a tory \nto remain anywhere among 'em without making \nan ample recantation of his principles; and \nthose who presume as to be so obstinate as not \nto comply, are obliged to take up residence \nin this city of refuge. ...\" \n\nPetty attacks made upon citizens by groups \nof soldiers, and the great difficulty experienced \nby General Gage in finding workmen to build \nbarracks for his men occupy Andrews' atten- \ntion throughout the greater part of his Septem- \nber letters. Then, on the twenty-sixth, he \nwrites: \" Sometime this day the Governor had \na conference with Col. Hancock, requesting \n\n\n88 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhim to use his influence with the committee \nto reconsider their vote respecting the barracks. \nThe Colonel observed to him that he had taken \nevery possible measure to distress us: . . . He \nlikewise told him that he had been threatened \nand apprehended his person was in danger, as \nit had been gave out that he deserved to be \nhanged: upon which the Governor told him \nthat he might have a guard, if he chose it, to \nattend him night and day. You will naturally \nconclude that he declined accepting. . . . \n\n\" September 27th. At four o'clock yesterday \nafternoon, the workmen all packed up their \ntools and left the barracks, frames &c; so that \nI am apprehensive we in the town will feel ill \neffects of it, as it has been given out that the \ntroops will force quarters next month, if bar- \nracks are not provided for 'em; neither should \nI blame them for so doing, as the nights are \nso cold already that it's impossible for 'em to \nsleep comfortable under their slight canvas \ntents. And as to empty houses, now since we \nhave got so many refugees among us, there is \nnot half sufficient to hold what troops we have \ngot already here. After the carpenters had \nleft off work, the General sent Col, Robinson \nand Major Sheaffe to Mr. Hancock to let him \nknow [that] if they would proceed with the \nbarracks, he [Gage] could suffer anything to \nbe transported within the limits of the harbour, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 89 \n\nunder the sanction of King's stores; but all \nwould not avail, — as they very justly sup- \nposed, that after the work was compleated he \nwould withdraw the indulgence, as he deems \n\nit. . . . \n\nA delightful snap-shot of Yankee character \nis given us by Andrews under the date of October \nfirst. \n\n\" It's common for the Soldiers to fire at a \ntarget fixed in the stream at the bottom of the \nCommon. A countiyman stood by a few days \nago and laughed very heartily at the whole \nregiment's firing and not one being able to hit \nit. The ofiicer observed him and asked why \nhe laughed ? Perhaps you'll be affronted if I \ntell you replied the countryman. No, he would \nnot, he said. Wliy then says he, I laugh to see \nhow awkward they fire. Wliy, I'll be bound I \nhit it ten times running. Ah! will you, reply 'd \nthe officer; come try: Soldiers, go and bring \nfive of the best guns and load 'em for this honest \nman. Why, you need not bring so many: let \nme have any one that comes to hand reply'd \nthe other but I choose to load myself. He \naccordingly loaded and asked the officer where \nhe should fire ? He replied to the right — when \nhe pulled trigger and dropped the ball as near \nthe right as possible. The officer was amazed \nand said he could not do it again, as that was \nonly by chance. He loaded again. Where shall \n\n\n90 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nI fire ? To the left — when he performed as well \nas before. Come! once more, says the ofiicer. \n— He prepared the third time, — where shall \nI fire naoiv ? In the center. He took aim and \nthe ball went as exact in the middle as possible. \nThe officers as well as soldiers stared, and tho't \nthe Devil was in the man. Wliy, says the \ncountryman, I'll tell you naow. I have got a \nboy at home that will toss up an apple and shoot \nout all the seeds as it's coming down! . . . \n\n\" One more anecdote. Bill, and I'll close this \nbarren day. Wlien the 59th regiment came \nfrom Salem and were drawn up on each side \nof the Neck a remarkable tall countryman, near \neight feet high, strutted betw^een 'em at the head \nof his waggon, looking very sly and contemptu- \nously on one side and t'other; which attracted \nthe notice of the whole regiment. — Ay, ay, \nsays he, you don't know what boys we have \ngot in the country. I am near nine feet high \nand one of the smallest among 'em.\" \n\nPoor Gage was made miserable by such \ncountrymen as that. Their resourcefulness \nand touchiness was amazing, and, of course, \nthey took a wicked joy in harrying him. \" They, \nare continually sending Committees upon one \nerrand or another,\" records John Andrews, \n\" which has caused the Governor to say that he \ncan do very well wdth the Boston Selectmen, \nbut the damned country committees plague his \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 91 \n\nsoul out, as they are very obstinate and hard \nto be satisfied. This day (October 5, 1774) a \ndeputation of twelve came to town with a very \nspirited remonstrance from the body of Worces- \nter County, which consists of five and forty \ntowns; where they have incorporated seven \nregiments consisting of a thousand men each, \nchose their officers and turn out twice a week \nto perfect themselves in the militaiy art — which \nare called minute men, i. e. to be ready at a \nminute's warning with a fortnight's provision, \nand ammunition and arms. ... At Newbury \nbridge they have got an Old Man fixed wdth a \ndrum, who, as soon as he observes a govern- \nment man enter, parades w4th his drum beating \nand proclaims through the town, ' a tory come \nto town.' \n\n\" October 14 A committee from the provin- \ncial Congress waited upon the Governor this \nafternoon, with an address or remonstrance. \nHe treated them very politely but would not allow \nit to be read to him. He told them he would \nconsider whether he could admit of an address \nfrom a provincial congress. Colonel Lee of \nMarblehead, their chairman, told him that \nadmit or not admit, times were such now that \nsomething must be done and that it was highly \nnecessary that they should be heard and re- \ngarded. Upon which his Excellency told him \nhe would take it as a favor if he would leave it \n\n\n92 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nfor his perusal, and he would endeavor to give \nthem all the satisfaction in his power consistent \nwith his duty to his Majesty. \n\n\nFKUVINCE HOUSE, WHERE GENERAL GAGE LIVED WHILE IN BOSTON \n\n\" October 25. By a vessel just arrived from \nBristol, we have accounts rather more favorable \nthan heretofore, as they now begin to view the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 93 \n\nPort Bill in its true light, and have opened \nsubscriptions, both in London and Bristol, \nfor tlie relief of this town. Am told that one \nalderman in the former city put down five \nhundred pounds sterling — which circumstance \nhas served in a great measure to compose the \nminds of the people here, as one third of the \ninhabitants, by reason of things looking very \ndark lately, are in pursuit of houses in the \ncountry, in order to remove with their families. \n. . . Am determined for my own part not to \nthink of anything of the kind but to stay here \nas long as I can get provisions to eat and can \ngo and come where I please. . . . We have had \nso remarkable a fine season that many bushes \nthat had lost their leaves are rebudded again \n— and in some Gardens in town they have trees \nthat are in blossom; this, and several pre- \nceding days, have been as warm as in \nJune.\" \n\nThe next entry of interest to us is that of \n\" December 18th. The Somerset of 74 guns \narrived this forenoon, being the last of the \nsquadron that came out with the Scarborough.\" \nThen, on December 25, — which, it is inte - \nesting to note, John Andrews does not call \nChristmas day, — \"The packet has brought \ncredentials that dub William Pepperell a Night, \nfor his steady adherence to the Government \nside in not resigning his Councellorship — a \n\n\n94 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbauble he has been seeking after a long time, \nand could not procure it when at home, be- \ncause not worth an estate of three thousand \na year — the most he could presume upon \nbeing seven hundred.\" \n\nPepperell's house — then worth \" seven hun- \ndred \" ? — is still standing in Kittery, Maine; \nfrom this mansion it was that he escaped to \nBoston after the people of his own county \n(York), had passed, on November 16, 1774, \na resolution in which he was declared to have \n\" forfeited the confidence and friendship of \nall true friends of American liberty, and ought \nto be detested by all good men.\" Pepperell \nwas a grandson of the hero of Louisburg and \nhad married the beautiful Elizabeth Royall, \ndaughter of Isaac Royall, who built the fine old \nmansion which still stands, bearing his name, \nin Medford, Massachusetts. Lady Pepperell, \nit is sad to note, died of small-pox on the vessel \nwhich was bearing her and Sir William from \nBoston to the more congenial soil of England, \ndirectly after John Andrews wrote the letter \njust quoted. Her husband was allowed £500 \nannually by the home government and treated \nwith much deference. He was the good friend \nof all refugees from America, and entertained \nhospitably at his pleasant home. He died in \nPortman Square, London, December, 1816, \nat the age of seventy. He appears to have been \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 95 \n\nsincerely devoted to the king's cause from the \nfirst, and so does not merit the anathema often \nbestowed upon him as a turncoat. \n\nJohn Andrews begins quite bHthely the year \nnow at hand: \" January 1, 1775. With wishing \nyou a happy new year, Bill, I must add my \nwishes that we may have a less troublesone \nyear than last and that Great Britain may see \nher error in distressing the Colonies, and restore \nto them their just rights and liberties; that we \nmay once more see that harmony prevail which \nformerly used to subsist between them.\" By \nthe next day, however, Andrews seems to have \nconcluded that there was very little chance \nof harmony, for he writes: \" This afternoon, \nan officer of the 10th regiment, one Dunlap, an \nensign, being warm or rather frantic with liquor, \nstopped a man who drives a waggon between \nSalem and here, in union street, and ordered \nhim to turn out of the way for him to walk on. \nThe waggoner refused; he made no more \nwords but struck across the face with a hickory \nstick, upon which the waggoner closed in upon \nhim, took his stick from him and beat him \npretty decently. . . . January 4, The Discon- \ntent of the Soldiers has become so general that \nthey have doubled all the guards and made one \nor two regiments lay under arms, as well as that \nthey have fixed a field-piece in the Centre of the \ntown to be fired in case of a mutiny, whereby all \n\n\n96 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthose that are not concerned in it are to appear \nunder arms.\" \n\n\" This morning we had quite a novel sight,\" \nwrites Andrews, with real journalistic enthu- \nsiasm, on January 6. \" The Sailors belonging \nto the Transports consisting of about 30 or \n40 dressed in white shirts ornamented with \nvarious colored ribbons disposed crossways on \ntheir bodies with knots and garlands, paraded \neach side of a long rope dragging a plow, ac- \ncompanied with one compleatly tarred and \nfeathered, representing a he Devil, together \nwith a She Devil and an attendant, each fur- \nnished with a bag to collect money, stopping \nevery person of genteel appearance to request \na remembrance of old England, wishing 'em \na merry Christmas. The former looked as \ncompleately like a deveil as the most fertile \ninvention could form an idea of or picture. \nThe General gave them two half Joes, and it \nis supposed that they collected at least forty \nguineas. The design of it was to celebrate \nthe twelfth night or the breaking up of Christ- \nmas.\" \n\nThose in high places were glad enough to \nhave the soldiers amuse themselves. For the \npoor fellows were dying at an alarming rate. \n\" Scarce a day passes without three or four \nsoldiers' funerals,\" Andrews records, \" a spot \nof ground at the bottom of the common being \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 97 \n\nallotted for them, which they have improved for \nupwards of a hundred ah'eady.\" \n\nThe Queen's birthday — January 18 — was \nduly celebrated by the army and painstakingly \ndescribed by our indefatigable letter-writer: \n\" In the afternoon a large company of officers \nassembled at the Coffee House, with a band \nof Musick in the balcony, and the King's own \ngrenadiers upon the opposite side of the street; \nwhen upon every toast they gave three chears, \nafter which one of their number came out to the \nbalcony and announced it to the Commander \nof the Granadiers, who thereupon ordered \na volley to be fired, when the music struck up \nand after that succeeded the drums. This they \ncontinued till near nine o'clock. Among their \ntoasts was . . . Confusion to the American \nArmy, — Lord North — with a number of such \nexasperating toasts, which the populace which \nwere gathered upon the occasion took no notice \nof, save the last, when they gave a general hiss \nand exclaimed damn him, upon which the an- \nnouncer of the toast cryed bless him, which was \nretorted upon him by frequent curses and exe- \ncrations, [so] that the Grenadiers were ordered \nto clear the streets with their bayonets. ...\" \n\nIt was about a fortnight after this that there \noccurred the famous remonstrance of the school- \nboys whose coasting privileges were being cur- \ntailed. Andrews tells the story thus: \" Shall \n\n\n98 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nclose this letter by giving you a small anecdote, \nrelating to some of our school lads — who as \nformerly in this season improved the Coast \nfrom Sherburn's hill down to School street. \nGeneral Haldiman, improving the house that \nbelongs to Old Cook, his servant took it upon \nhim to cut up their coast and fling ashes upon \nit. The lads made a muster and chose a com- \nmittee to wait upon the General, who admitted \nthem and heard their complaint, which was \ncouched in very genteel terms complaining that \ntheir fathers before 'em had improved it as a \ncoast for time immemorial &c. He ordered \nhis servant to repair the damage, and acquainted \nthe Governor with the afl^air, who observed \nthat it was impossible to beat the notion of \nLiberty out of the people as it was rooted in \nfrom their Childhood.\" \n\nA sidelight upon the religious situation in \nBoston, just at this time, is afit'orded by Andrews \nin a letter dated March 18, 1775. \n\n\" An express came to the Governor with \nletters by the packet on Wednesday evening but \nnothing transpired but to a few of his refugee \ncouncellors, who have been observed ever since \nto be much crest-fallen. Old Bl — e (Parson \nByle, the Tory wit ?) was heard to exclaim \nyesterday — ' We shall lose the day. Good God ! \nwhat will become of us ? ' A certain Reverend \nDoctor of the Establish 'd Church in this town \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 99 \n\nhas lately said that he would rather wade up \nto his knees in blood, than that the Ministry \nshould give way. Thursday was observed here \n\n\nTHE OLD WEST CHURCH, WHOSE SERVICE WAS DISTURBED BY BRITISH \n\nSOLDIERS \n\nas a general fast. An officer, with men from \nthe 4th Regiment in Barracks at West Boston, \nerected a couple of tents just at the back of \nHoward's meeting and conducted a parcell of \n\n\n100 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nfifes and drums there, which played and beat \nYanky Doodle the whole forenoon service time, \nto the great interruption of the congregation. \nThey intended to repeat the same in the after- \nnoon but were prevented by orders from the \nGeneral. The officers behave more like a \nparcell of children, of late, than men. Captain \n\nof the Royal Irish first exposed himself by \n\nbehaving in a very scandalous manner at the \nSouth meeting, while Dr. Warren was deliver- \ning the oration in commemoration of the Mas- \nsacre. He got pretty decently frightened for \nit. A woman, among the rest, attacked him, \nand threatened to wring his nose! ... \n\n\" Monday morning. Our provincial congress \nis to meet next month at Concord, when, I am \ntold, there is to [be] an army of observation \nencamped consisting of twenty thousand men. \nAm also informed that the congress have ex- \npended near a million in our Old tenor for \nammunition and provisions. This I know, that \nthey have had upwards of fifty ton of shot, shell \n&c cast besides an innumerable number of \nMusket balls. Have seen twenty load covered \nwith dung to go out of town myself, but lately \nall carts have been searched by the Guards, and \nunluckily, last Saturday evening a load of \ncartridges were seized packed in candle boxes, \nconsisting of 13500 besides 4 boxes balls. The \ncountryman struggled hard before he would \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 101 \n\ndeliver 'em and received two or three bad \nwounds. The same evening eight or nine \nofficers paraded the streets and abused every \nperson they met, but finally met with their \nmatches and were all made to lay level with \nthe ground. — and yesterday four Sergeants and \nas many men were sent to insult John Hancock, \nunder pretence of seeing if his stables would \ndo for barracks. He went directly to the Gen- \neral who ordered a party there, but they were \ngone. The General told him if he was any ways \ninsulted again to write a billet and send it by \na servant, and he would immediately redress \nhim — but it seems the officers and soldiers \nare a good deal disaffected towards the Governor, \nthinking, I suppose, that he is partial to the \ninhabitants; many of the latter have made no \nscruples to call him an Old Woman.\" (Gage \nhad married an American and his officers in- \nclined to a feeling that his wife influenced her \nhusband in favor of the rebels. For years, in- \ndeed, it has been thought that it was through \nMrs. Gage that the plans of the British on the \nnight of April 18, became known; but, in our \nnext chapter, we shall have something to ad- \nvance which may, perhaps, be held to exon- \nerate that lady.) \n\nThe affair of April 19 is now at hand. Before \nleaving the letters of John Andrews, let us \nfollow the story of that encounter as he tells it. \n\n\n102 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nOn the very day after the skirmish he writes: \n\"... Last Saturday p. m. orders were sent \nto the several regiments quartered here not to \nlet their Grenadiers or Hght Infantry do any \nduty till further orders, upon which the in- \nhabitants conjectured that some secret expedi- \ntion was on foot and being on the look out, they \nobserved those bodies upon the move the evening \nbefore last, observing a perfect silence in the \nmarch towards a point opposite Pliip's farm, \nwhere [boats ?] were in waiting that conveyed \n'em over. The men appointed to alarm the \ncountry upon such occasions got over by stealth \nas early as they [could] and took their different \nrouts. \n\n\" The first advice we had was about eight \no'clock in the morning when it was reported \nthat the troops had fired upon and killed five \nmen in Lexinton — previous to which an officer \ncame express to his Excellency Governor \nGage, when between eight and nine o'clock \na brigade marched out under the command of \nEarl Piercy, consisting of the Marines, the \nWelch fusilers, the 4th Regiment, the 47th \nand two field pieces. About twelve o'clock it \nwas gave out by the General's Aide camps that \nno person was killed and that a single gun had \nnot been fired, which report was variously be- \nleived — but between one and two certain ac- \ncounts came that eight were killed outright and \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 103 \n\nfourteen wounded of the inhabitants of Lexinton \n— who had about forty men drawn out early in \nthe morning near the meeting house to exercise. \nThe party of the Light Infantry and Grenadiers, \nto the number of about eight hundred, came up \nto them and ordered them to disperse. The \ncommander of them reply'd that they were \nonly innocently amusing themselves with exer- \ncise, that they had not any ammunition with \n'em and therefore should not molest or disturb \nthem, which answer not satisfying, the troops \nfired upon and killed three or four, the other \ntook to their heels and the troops continued to \nfire. A few took refuge in the meeting, when the \nsoldiers shoved up the Windows and pointed \ntheir Guns in and killed three there. Thus \nmuch is best account I can learn of this fatal \nday.\" And not too near the truth is it, John \nAndrews! However, let us read the rest of the \nreport : \n\n\" You must naturally suppose that such a \npiece would rouse the country (allowed the \nreport to be true). The troops continued their \nmarch to Concord, entered the town, and re- \nfreshed themselves in the meeting and town \nhouse. In the latter place they found some \nammunition and stores belonging to the country, \nwhich they found they could not bring away \nby reason that the country people had occupied \nall the posts around them. They therefore \n\n\n104 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nset fire to the house, which the people extin- \nguished. Tliey set fire a second time, which \nbrought on a general engagement at about \neleven o'clock. The troops took two peices of \ncannon from the peasants, but their numbers \nincreasing they soon regained 'em and the \ntroops were obliged to retreat towards town. \nAbout noon they were joined by the other \nbrigade under Earl Piercy, when another very \nwarm engagement came on at Lexinton, which \nthe troops could not stand; therefore were \nobliged to continue their retreat which they \ndid with the bravery becoming l^ritish soldiers \n— but the country were in a manner desperate, \nnot regarding their cannon [any more] in the \nleast, and followed 'em until seven in the evening \nby which time they got into Charlestown, when \nthey left off the pursuit lest they might injure \nthe inhabitants. I stood up on the hills in town \nand saw the engagement very plain. It was very \nbloody for seven hours. Its conjectured that \none half the soldiers at least are killed. The \nlast brigade was sent over the ferry in the eve- \nning to secure their retreat — where they are this \nmorning entrenching themselves upon Bunker's \nHill [to] get a safe retreat to this town. Its \nimpossible to learn any particulars as the com- \nmunication between town and country is at \npresent broke off. They were till ten o'clock \nlast night bringing over the wounded several \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 105 \n\nof which are since [dead], two oflScers in par- \nticular. When I reflect and consider that the \nfight was between those whose parents but a \nfew generations ago were brothers I shudder \nat the thought and there's no knowing where \nour calamities will end.\" \n\nAndrews is now worried about his personal \nsafety, too. On April 24, he writes: \" Yester- \nday, though Sunday, we had town meetings all \nday, and finally concluded to deliver up all our \narms to the Selectmen, on condition that the \nGovernor would open the avenues to the town, \nwhich is to be comply'd with tommorrow, \nwhen if I escape with the skin of my teeth shall \nbe glad, as I don't expect to take more than a \nchange of apparell with me. Sam. and his wife \nwith myself and Ruthy intend for Nova Scotia.\" \n\nYet on May 6 he wrote: \" You'll observe by \nthis that I'm yet in Boston and here like to \nremain. Three of us chartered a vessel a fort- \nnight since to convey us to Halifax . . . but \nthe absolute refusal of the Governor to suft'er \nany merchandize to be carried out of the town \nhas determined me to stay and take care of \nmy effects. . . . Near half the inhabitants have \nleft the town already and another quarter at \nleast have been waiting for a week past with \nearnest expectation of getting papers, which \nhave been dealt out very sparingly of late, not \nabove two or three procured of a day and those \n\n\n106 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwith greatest difficulty. Its a fortnight since \nthe communication between town and country \nwas stopped. Of consequence our eyes have \nnot been blessed with either vegetables or fresh \nprovisions. P. S. You can have no conception, \nBill, of the distresses the people in general are \ninvolved in. You'll see parents that are lucky \nenough to procure papers, with bundles in one \nhand a string of children in the other wandering \nout of town . . . not knowing whither they'll \ngo, . . . Your uncle and aunt are very de- \nsirous for us to [go to London with them] but \nmy finances wont at present admit of it, as my \nwhole interest, saving outstanding debts, is in \ntown and cant be removed. . . . No person \nwho leaves the town is allowed to return again.\" \nSo John Andrews stayed on in Boston and \ntook care of his property. During the siege \nhe suffered a good deal from the lack of those \n\" fresh vegetables \" to which his letters so fre- \nquently have referred, but he managed to live \nthrough this deprivation and was able to enjoy \nan excellent meal, with General Washington \nas his guest at his School Street home soon \nafter the evacuation. In 1785 Mr. Andrews \nwas elected a selectman of Boston, and con- \ntinued in that office until 1790, when he \ndeclined to serve longer. He was long remem- \nbered by the \" oldest inhabitant \" as a little \nold gentleman of trim dress, powdered hair and \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 107 \n\nwhite-top boots, who lived in an antique wooden \nhouse at the corner of Winter and Tremont \n(then Common) Streets, in the midst of a beauti- \nful garden which stretched in the rear of his \nmansion to what is now Hamilton Place. Yet \nwe of to-day should very likely have forgotten \neven his name, were it not for the sprightly \nletters which he wrote to his brother-in-law in \nPhiladelphia about Boston at the most exciting \nperiod of her history. \n\n\nCHAPTER VI \n\nTHE MESSENGER OF THE REVOLUTION \n\nTHE first point which the historical pil- \ngriro from the West or from abroad seeks \nout, after arriving in Boston, is Bunker \nHill Monument, The next day he inevitably \nspends at the North End, visiting the church \nfrom whose steeple were hung the signal lights \nconnected with Paul Revere's famous ride to \nLexington, and roaming through the house, \nnow happily open to the public, from which, \non that eventful night, the \" messenger of the \nRevolution \" went forth on his daring errand. \nThe Lexington ride was by no means the \nfirst that Revere had taken in the service of \nrebellious Boston, and, until Longfellow wrote \nhis poem, it did not seem any more impor- \ntant than other similar exploits. This fact \nit is which accounts for the many historical \nerrors, which have come to be accepted as \nfacts, in connection with the ride, and for the \ndifficulty with which, so long after the event, \nthe truth about it can be brought to common \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 109 \n\nknowledge. For instance, it is now a well- \nestablished fact that the lanterns were hung \nin Christ Church steeple, not by Newman the \nsexton, but by Captain John Pulling, Jr., a \n\n\nPAUL REVERE HOUSE AFTER RESTORATION \n\n\nfriend of Revere and a vestryman of the church. \nBut, so firmly has the other story become im- \nplanted in the common mind that writers far \nand wide go on making the old misstatement. \nPaul Revere himself, however, is our im- \nmediate concern. What of him ? His father. \n\n\n110 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nafter whom he was named, was also a gold- \nsmith, and had been called, in his early days, \nApoUos Rivoire. But Huguenot names were \nnot easily managed by the stiff Puritan tongues \nof the pre-Revolutionary period, and so, about \nthe time of his marriage to Deborah Hitchborn \nof Boston (June 19, 1729), the elder Rivoire \nsensibly anglicized both his Christian name and \nhis patronymic, Paul was his third child, and \nhe first saw the light January 1, 1735. \n\nHe was educated at the \" North Grammar \nSchool \" on North Bennet Street, the institution \nwith which the famous pedagogue, John Tiles- \nton, was connected as pupil, usher, and master \nfor a period of eighty years. After leaving \nschool, Paul entered his father's shop, learned \nthe trade of a gold and silver smith, and de- \nveloped great skill as an engraver, not only \nof the tankards, spoons and mugs cherished \nto-day in many New England families, but \nalso as the engraver on copperplate of historic \nscenes closely connected with the struggle for \nindependence. For already what was to be- \ncome a passion in the man — the love of liberty \n— had taken firm possession of the youth. \n\\Vlien he was scarcely twenty, he had a com- \nmission as second lieutenant in the expedition \nagainst the French at Crown point! \n\nAfter his initial experience in military life. \nRevere returned to Boston and took unto him- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 111 \n\nself a wife. Subsequently, for a number of \nyears, he was occupied with the engraving \nand the sale of caricatures, or what we of to-day \nwould call political cartoons. Some illustrations \nwhich he had made at the time of the Stamp \nAct attracted a great deal of attention, and that \nof 1768, picturing the Rescinders, was exceed- \ningly popular and brought him in a good bit \nof money. On the back of Revere's original \nprint on this subject is written an account of the \ncircumstance therein depicted, together with \nthe names of the men, seventeen in number, \nwho voted to \" rescind.\" Painstakingly Revere \nhas put just seventeen men into his picture. \nThe cut-line at the top of this spirited caricature \nis \" A Warm Place — Hell,\" and the representa- \ntion shows us Satan and an agile assistant \nhustling the renegades into a pair of monstrous \nopen jaws. Satan himself is exclaiming : \"Now, \nI've got you! a fine haul, by Jove! \" while his \nassistant is shown flying towards the first man, \n— intended to represent Hon. Timothy Ruggles, \nwho is evidently reluctant to leap into the yawn- \ning maw, — with the command: \"Push on, \nTim!\" On the extreme right of the picture, \nin order that there should be no doubt about \nits local application, is drawn in the cupola of \nthe Province House, with its Shem Drowne \nIndian taking patient aim ! \n\nThe verse beneath the sketch was written \n\n\n112 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nby Dr. Benjamin Church, afterwards convicted \nas a traitor to the American cause, who hap- \n\n\nA \"\\^^RM Place — Hell \n\n\n(jAere. /turn/ Z'iUcu'tif cia^n*t.'d ^^ /uUuKj/ln \n\n\npened into Revere's shop while the engraver \nwas at work on the plate. It runs: \n\n\n\" On brave Re cinders ! to yon yawning cell ! \nSeventeen such IVIiscreants sure will startle hell; \nThere puny Villains, damn'd for petty Sin, \nOn such distinguish'd Scoundrels gaze and grin; \nThe out done Devil will resign his sway, \nHe never curst his Millions in a day.\" \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 113 \n\nAnother theme which Revere improved was \nthe Boston Massacre. A third famous plate \nis his \" View of Boston in 1768,\" the British \nbeing depicted, in this drawing, as in the act \nof landing their troops. No less than seven \nchurches, besides Faneuil Hall and the Old \nState House, are here to be seen, for all that \npart of Boston from the \" Old Brick Church \" \nto the '* North Battery \" is included in the sketch. \n\nA very well-known piece of Revere's work is \non the bill-head of the Cromwell's Head Inn, a \nfamous tavern on School Street, which, says \nGoss, — from whom the Revere data already \ncited has been quoted, — \" stood until 1888.\" \nThe site is now given over to Crosby's Restau- \nrant, an establishment which, with excellent \ngood sense, fosters its relationship to the older \neating-house, where, in 1756, Washington was \nentertained, and at which, in 1782, the Marquis \nde Chastellux made his headquarters. \n\nTo be sure there seems to be some question \nwhether Revere always originated the drawings \nof the plates which, when engraved and printed, \nbrought him in such good returns. There is \nextant a letter sent him by Henry Pelham in \nwhich the definite statement is made, that, at \nleast in the case of the Boston Massacre de- \nsign, Revere acted dishonorably. In extenua- \ntion one can only say that Revere's plate is \nmarked merely \" engraved printed and sold \n\n\n114 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nby \" not \" designed by.\" Moreover, Pelham's \naccusation is unsubstantiated by any other \ndocuments which I have been able to find. \nThe letter however follows: \n\n\n\" Thursday morning \n\n\" Boston, March 29, 1770 \n\n\" To Mr. Paul Revere, Present, — \n\n\" Sir, — When I heard that you was cutting \na plate of the late Murder I thought it im- \npossible as I knew you was not capable of \ndoing it unless you had coppied it from mine \nand as I thought I had intrusted it in the hands \nof a person who had more regard to the dic- \ntates of Honour and Justice than to take the \nundue advantage you have done of the confidence \nand trust I reposed in you. But I find I was \nmistaken and after being at the great Trouble \nand Expence of making a design, paying for \npaper, printing &c find myself in the most \nungenerous Manner deprived not only of any \nproposed Advantatge but even of the expence \nI have been at as truly as if you had plundered \nme on the highway. If you are insensible \nof the Dishonour you have brought on yourself \nby this Act, the world will not be so. However \nI leave you to reflect upon and consider of one \nof the most dishonourable Actions you could \nwell be guilty of. \" H. Pelham.'* \n\n\nS. Oh \n\n\nTHE OLD NORTH CHURCH. \n\nPage 122 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 115 \n\nTo his brother, Charles Pelham of Medford \nand Newton, Henry Pelham on May 1, 1770 \nwrote: \" Inclosed I send you two of my prints \non the late Massacre.\" The fact that the Mas- \nsacre plate which Revere engraved shows more \ndistinct artistic power than any other of his \nthings unfortunately gives color to Pelham's \nclaim. For Henry Pelham was an artist and \nRevere was not. \n\nSo profitable did Revere find the engraving \nof militant cartoons that he was able, in 1770, \nto purchase the house in North Square now \nassociated with his name. North Square was \nthe Court end of Boston at that time, and con- \ntained some of the finest residences of which \nthe town could boast. Here, then, it was that \nRevere lived about a quarter of a cen- \ntury, and all through the years of the War \nof the Revolution. Here, too, on May third, \n1773, Sarah, the wife of his young manhood, \ndied. \n\nYet the North Square home was not long with- \nout a mistress, for after a few months, \" his \nhousehold being in sore need of a mother's care,\" \nhe addressed his attentions to an excellent \nand charming woman, Rachel Walker. Among \nthe leaves of one of Revere's day-books is found \na poetic effusion which played a part in the \ncourting of Miss Walker. The verse and its \ninterpretation runs : \n\n\n116 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\n\" Take three fourths of a Paine that makes Traitors confess \n\n(Rac) \nWith three parts of a place which the Wicked don't bless (Hel) \nJoyne four sevenths of an Exercise which shop-keepers use (Walk) \nAdd what bad men do, when they good actions refuse, (Er) \nThese four, added together with great care and Art, \nWill point out the Fair One that's nearest my Heart.\" \n\nThey were married October 10, 1773 — \nRevere and this \" Fair One \" — by Rev. Samuel \nMather. Not long afterwards the bridegroom \nbegan those public services which have since \nmade him famous; whenever there was an \nimportant message to be carried to the sister \ncolonies, he was the man to whom it was in- \ntrusted. He also served on many patriotic \ncommittees and was a prime mover in the numer- \nous clubs whose object it was to foster the spirit \nof rebellion. Some of these clubs had been \nmeeting for years, — the \" Sons of Liberty \" in a \ndistillery, and also in the Green Dragon Tavern, \nand the North and South End \" caucuses \" \nin places convenient to their respective members. \nJohn Adams, in his Diary, gives us an interest- \ning glimpse of their manners and customs: \n\n\" Feb. 1, 1763. — This day learned that the \nCaucus Club meets at certain times in the garret \nof Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regi- \nment. He has a large house, and he has a mov- \nable petition [sic] in his garret, which he takes \ndown, and the wdiole club meets in one room. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 117 \n\nThere they smoke tobacco until you cannot see \nfrom one end of the garret to the other. Then \nthey drink flip, I suppose, and there they choose \na moderator who puts the questions to the vote \nregularly; and selectmen, assessors, collectors, \nwardens, firewards and representatives, are \nregularly chosen before they are chosen in the \ntown. . . . January 15, 1766. — Spent the eve- \nning with the Sons of Liberty at their own apart- \nment in Hanover Square, near the Tree of \nLiberty. It is a counting-room in Chase and \nSpeakman's distillery; a very small room it is. \nThere were present John Avery, a distiller of \nliberal education; ... I was very cordially \nand respectfully treated by all present. We \nhad punch, wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit and \ncheese. They chose a committee to make \npreparations for grand rejoicing upon the ar- \nrival of the news of a repeal of the stamp act.\" \nThe particular club to which is due credit for \neffective action on the eve of April 19 was, how- \never, that made up of about thirty mechanics \nwho had enrolled themselves as a kind of vol- \nunteer committee to watch over the British. \nOf this club Revere was the head, and it met, \nas he himself says, \" at the Green Dragon \nTavern.\" Just how that group got to know \nimmediately the plan of the British to march \nto Concord and to arrest, on the way, John \nHancock and Samuel Adams (who were staying \n\n\n118 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwith Parson Clark at Lexington) has never been \ndetermined. One tale runs that a groom at the \nProvince House, who happened to drop into a \nstable near by on Milk Street told the stable- \nboy that he had overheard a conversation be- \ntween Gage and other officers. \" There'll be \nhell to pay to-morrow,\" the jockey thereupon \npredicted. It was alleged that this significant \nconversation was speedily repeated and carried \nto Paul Revere, who enjoined silence and re- \nmarked to his informant: \" You are the third \nperson who has brought me the same informa- \ntion.\" \n\nAnother story has it that the great secret was \nrevealed by an incautious sergeant-major in \nGage's army quartered in the family of an \nEnglishman, Jasper by name, who was secretly \nsympathetic towards the rebel cause, and who \nkept a gunsmith's shop. Jasper is said to have \nrepeated what he had gathered from the British \nofficer to Colonel Josiah Waters, one of the \npatriot leaders, who promptly made the facts \nknown to the Committee of Safety. Still an- \nother story which bears all the earmarks of \nprobability is that the news was communicated \nthrough a Mrs. Stedman, who lived at the \ncorner of Winter and Washington Streets and \nwho, on account of the scarcity of servants, \nhad been glad to avail herself of the services \nof a woman whose husband was a British sol- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 119 \n\ndier named Gibson. On the evening of the \neighteenth of April a grenadier in full regi- \nmentals knocked at Mrs. Stedman's door and \ninquired for Gibson. On being told that he \nwould soon be at the house, an order was left \nfor him to report himself at eight o'clock at the \nbottom of the Common, equipped for an expe- \ndition. Mrs. Stedman hastened to inform her \nhusband of this alarming summons, and he at \nonce carried the news to Dr. Benjamin Church, \nwho lived near by on Winter Street, and who, \nat that time, may have been loyal to the Ameri- \ncan cause, and have pushed the news on to \nRevere. \n\nA brand new and not uninteresting explana- \ntion of the celerity with which the news reached \nRevere has just come to me from Mrs. E. \nCorinna Wheeler, an aged lady still living \nin Boston, who says that she is the only sur- \nviving possessor of the facts about that night. \n\" My great-grandmother,\" she told me in a \nrecent conversation, \" was Lydia Ballard Lewis, \nand in 1775 she was a girl of fifteen. It was to \nher brother, a bright Yankee boy, Sam Ballard \nby name, that the intelligence of the Committee \nof Safety was due, and the exact form in which \nshe related the story afterwards to my mother \nis as follows : It was a great thing in those times \nfor the boys to hang about the inn doors to pick \nup a few shillings and sixpences by holding \n\n\n120 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhorses, while their owners went inside for a \ndrink. On the week before the eighteenth \nmy great-great-uncle, then a boy of thirteen, \noverheard in this way the conversation of two \nBritish officers. That conversation was im- \n\n\nGREEN DRAGON TAVERN \n\n\nportant. For they talked of the plan to capture \nHancock and Adams. \n\n\" Sam went immediately with his news to the \nlandlord of the Green Dragon, and he informed \nthe Committee of Safety which had its meetings \nin an upper room of that tavern. Acting on this \ninformation the committee appointed a spy \nto hide in the rooms where the British held their \ncouncils. The spy learned the rest. Then the \ncommittee held another meeting and planned the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 121 \n\nride of Paul Revere. But on the night of the \neighteenth the committee was carefully watched, \nfor the British were determined that they should \nnot do the very thing they accomplished, — \nthat is, get news of the march to Lexington and \nConcord. The committee did not dare to ven- \nture out, but somehow they must send word \nto Revere. It suddenly occurred to Dr. Warren \nthat no suspicion would be aroused to see a \nboy running up the causeway from the Green \nDragon to Revere's house. So, about ten o'clock, \nhe despatched that same thirteen year old Sam \nBallard to carry the message to Paul Revere! \" \nIn a letter sent in 1798 to Jeremy Belknap \n(secretary of the Massachusetts Historical So- \nciety), which letter was afterwards published in \nthe Proceedings of that body. Revere himself, \nthen an old man, told in detail the story of his \nfamous ride. \" About ten o'clock,\" he declares, \n\" Dr. Warren sent in great haste for me, and \nbegged that I would immediately set off for \nLexington, where Messrs. Hancock and Adams \nwere, and acquaint them of the movement \nand that it was thought they were the objects. \nWhen I got to Dr. Warren's house [on the site \nof the present American House in Hanover \nstreet] I found he had sent an express by land \nto Lexington — a Mr. William Dawes. The \nSunday before, by desire of Dr. Warren, I had \nbeen to Lexington, to Messrs. Hancock and \n\n\n122 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nAdams, who were at the Rev. Mr. Clark's. I \nreturned at night through Charlestown; there \nI agreed with a Colonel Conant and some other \ngentlemen, that if the British went out by water \nwe would show two lanthorns in the North Church \nsteeple, and if by land, one as a signal; for we \nwere apprehensive it would be difficult to cross \nthe Charles River, or get over Boston Neck. \nI left Dr. Warren, called upon a friend and de- \nsired him to make the signals.\" \n\nThe common mistake about the identity \nof this \" friend \" with Robert Newman, the \nsexton of Christ Church, emanated in 1876 from \nthe late Dr. Burroughs, rector of that parish, \nwho made the statement in a centenary sermon, \nwhich was widely printed and circulated. Thus \nthe idea that Newman actually did the deed of \nvalor — for it meant risking one's neck in a \ncity, given over, as Boston then was, to the \ndomination of the British, — got pretty firmly \nimplanted in the minds of the American people. \nHad it not been for the diligence of Rev. John \nLee Watson, D. D., who was assistant rector \nof Old Trinity under Bishop Griswold, it is \nprobable that the claim would have gone un- \ndisputed. \n\nDr. Watson, however, knew very well that \nin the Pulling family, with which he was re- \nmotely connected, it had long been a cherished \ntradition that their ancestor. Captain John \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 123 \n\nPulling, Jr., who was the intimate friend of \nPaul Revere, displayed the signals on that \neventful night; that it was to Pulling, indeed, \nthat Revere specifically refers as the \" friend \" \nwho cooperated with him in this matter. Ac- \ncordingly he set himself promptly to collect his \nevidence, and, something over a year after \nDr. Burroughs had preached his sermon, pub- \nlished all that he had gathered on the subject. \n\nDr. Watson showed that John Pulling, Jr., \nson of John and Martha Pulling, was born in \nBoston, February 18, 1737, and was brought \nup in Christ Church, where his father was first \na warden and later a vestryman. Young Pulling \nreceived his education in the town schools of \nthat day, married the daughter of Colonel John \nLee of Manchester, and at the time of the revo- \nlution was well established as a successful Boston \nmerchant. \n\nFrom boyhood he had been an intimate friend \nof Paul Revere and, in all the patriotic under- \ntakings with which Revere's name was asso- \nciated, Pulling also had a place. \n\nIn the records of the Boston committee of \ncorrespondence, \" Captain John Pulling and \nMajor Paul Revere \" are mentioned as having \nbeen together chosen for membership; it is \nalso recorded that \"at a meeting of the free- \nholders and other inhabitants of the town of \nBoston, in public town meeting assembled, at \n\n\n124 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe old brick meeting house,\" it was \" voted that \nCaptain John Pulling, Major Paul Revere \" \nand others \" be appointed a subcommittee to \ncollect the names of all persons who have in any \nway acted against or opposed the rights and \nliberties of this country,\" Moreover, Revere 's \nnarrative of the events of the memorable eve of \nApril 19 refers to his \" friend \" in just the casual \nway a simple man would do if that \" friend \" \nwere an intimate comrade. \n\nPuUing's house was near the church and, \nas soon as Revere had left him, he began to \nwatch for a favorable opportunity to go to the \nhome of the sexton, on Salem Street, and ask that \nfunctionary for the keys, which he would not, \nof course, refuse to give to one who was a vestry- \nman of the church. He then let himself into the \nsacred edifice, carefully locking the door behind \nhim. Then climbing to the upper window of the \nsteeple, he waited for a favorable moment — \nand hung out the two lanterns by which those on \nthe other side were told \" the British were going \nby water.\" \n\nImmediately upon the discovery by the au- \nthorities that signals revealing their plans had \nbeen made from the church, a search was set \nafoot for the rebel who made them. The sexton \nwas naturally suspected and promptly arrested. \nHe protested his innocence; and, when ques- \ntioned, declared that \" the keys of the church \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 125 \n\nwere demanded of him at a late hour of the night \nby Mr. Pulling, who, being a vestryman, he \nthought had a right to them; and, after he had \ngiven them up, he had gone to bed again, and \nthat was all he knew about it.\" This answer \nwas all that was necessary to procure his release \nand turn the search toward Pulling. \n\nThe real \" rebel,\" however, got wind of the \ninvestigation and, disguised as a laborer, made \nhis escape on a friendly vessel. How long he \nremained in hiding is not known, but his family \nstayed for some time on the present site of \nKimball's Hotel in Cohasset, suffering not a little \nfor want of the necessaries of life. For they had \nleft behind them in their precipitate departure \nmuch of their '* abundant means \" and the \nfamily fortunes were never recouped. \n\nTo be sure, Mr. Pulling returned to Boston \nafter the siege was raised, and was active, until \nthe end of the war, in 1783, in all the patriotic \nmeasures of the time, but his health had been a \ngood deal broken by privation, and he died \nJanuary 25, 1787, aged only fifty. \n\nThe story of that night, however, was told \nto the children of the Pulling family as a part \nof their family history, and a patriotic grand- \ndaughter, Mary Orne Jenks of Salem, did not \na little, toward the end of her life, to render to \nthe right person credit for the plucky deed. \n\n** I know that he (John Pulling) held the Ian- \n\n\n126 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nterns on that night,\" she repeatedly said and \nwrote: \" but how can I prove it after all these \nyears ? If this sexton, Newman — I never \nheard his name before — was the person, and \nwas arrested, is it very Hkely he could escape \nand remain in Boston ? \" \n\nA conclusive argument in Pulling's behalf lies \nin the fact that Revere, in his narrative, gives \nan account of about thirty persons, mechanics \nand others, \" who had agreed to watch the \nmovements of British soldiers and tories,\" \nand who were in the habit of meeting, to com- \npare notes, at the Green Dragon Tavern in \nUnion Street. \n\n*' We were so careful,\" Revere continues, \n\" that our meetings should be kept secret, that \nevery time we met every person swore upon the \nBible that they would not disclose any of our \ntransactions but to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, \nDrs. Warren, Church and one or two more.\" \n\nIn other words, they swore to confide their \nplans only to the committees chosen by them- \nselves, to which both Paul Revere and John \nPulling belonged. It is hardly reasonable to \nsuppose that the church sexton, Newman, \nwould have been admitted into a confidence \nwhich these careful men had repeatedly \" sworn \nupon the Bible \" to keep inviolate. \n\nSubsequent to the publication of Dr. Watson's \nletters, a Baptist minister, Rev. Henry F. Lane, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 127 \n\nwho was the son of JohnPulHng's granddaughter, \nwrote in regard to the matter: \" When I \nwas a lad, I distinctly remember hearing from \nmy mother's grandmother, who died in Abing- \nton about 1846, in her 99th year, that her hus- \nband hung the lights from the steeple of the \nOld North church. His residence at the time \nwas on the corner of what were then called Ann \nand Cross sts. The British made diligent \nsearch for him, and I have heard my great- \ngrandmother give a very vivid description of their \nsearching the house to find him, and how he \navoided capture by her concealing him under an \nempty winebutt in the cellar. He escaped \nfrom Boston in a small skiff, while the British \nhad possession, by disguising himself as a fisher- \nman; was challenged while passing under the \nhawser of a British man-of-war and landed \non Nantasket beach.\" \n\nThe wife who very bravely shared her hus- \nband's exile was a Hingham woman whose \nmaiden name was Sarah Thaxter. Pulling \nwas her second husband, as she was his second \nwife. She belongs more really to his fame \nthan does Annis Lee, his first wife, because \nshe suffered much for and with him. For a time \nshe was in concealment in an old cooper shop \non the Cohasset shore, and in that rude dwell- \ning she gave birth — before being joined by \nher husband — according to the statement of \n\n\n128 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nHarvey H. Pratt, her great-great-grandson and \na well-known Boston attorney, to a girl baby. \nMr. Pratt owns the Bible from which the wife \nof the lantern hanger got her comfort and sup- \nport during this trying ordeal. \n\nBefore the affair of the lanterns John Pulling \nhad taken part in the Boston tea party, differing \nfrom most of the others on that occasion in \nappearing without disguise. Instead he wore \nhis usual three-cornered hat, on the rim of \nwhich Mrs. Pulling found, upon his return home, \na small quantity of the obnoxious tea. This she \npreserved in a glass vial that she kept carefully \nstowed away in a desk now owned by her great- \ngreat-grandson, Clifford Reed of Dorchester, \nMassachusetts. \n\nMr. Reed also cherishes in his home a chest \nlong used by Mrs. Pulling and upon which, \nfamily tradition says, the lantern hanger's wife \nonce served a lunch to General Joseph Warren \nwhen he came to borrow money with which to \npush on preparations for war. So far as is \nknown no picture of Captain John Pulling, Jr., \nis in existence. \n\nAt the Massachusetts Historical Society, where \nthis whole matter was threshed out more than \na quarter of a century ago by the late Charles \nDeane, very well known as a careful antiquarian, \nPuUing's share in the events preceding the skir- \nmish at Lexington has long been an accepted fact. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 129 \n\nAfter leaving the friend who was to make the \nsignals, \" 1 went home,\" Revere's narrative \ncontinues, \" took my boots and sm'tout, went \nto the north part of the town, where I kept a \nboat; two friends rowed me across Charles \nRiver a little to the eastward where the Somerset \nman-of-war lay. It was then young flood, the \nship was winding and the moon rising. They \nlanded me on the Charlestown side. When I got \ninto town, I met Colonel Conant and several \nothers; they said they had seen our signals.\" \n\nThese signals, it is thus made clear, were \nfor these waiting ones, — in case Revere had \nnot been able to get across. As it was, he had \nonly to find a horse and be off. Longfellow's \npicture of him, stamping up and down by the \nside of his valiant steed, searching the sky line \nfor \" a glimmer and then a gleam of light \" \nis pure poetry, — just as it was meant to be. \n\n\" While the horse was preparing,\" Revere's \nnarrative continues, \" Richard Devens Esq., \nwho was one of the Committee of Safety, came \nto me and told me that he came down the road \nfrom Lexington after sundown that evening; \nthat he met ten British officers, all well mounted \nand going up the road. I set off upon a very \ngood horse; it was about 11 o'clock and very \npleasant. . . .\" \n\nEre the \" messenger of the Revolution \" \nhad gone far on his way, however, he discerned \n\n\n130 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ntwo British officers just ahead of him. Where- \nupon he turned quickly, and though pursued, \nmade good his escape by passing through Med- \nford and up to Menotomy (now Arlington). \n\" In Medford,\" he records, \" I waked the cap- \ntain of the minute men and after that, I alarmed \nalmost every house, till I got to Lexington.\" \nJust at this point, it will be seen, the facts \nagree with the stirring lines of the poem: \n\n\" A hurry of hoofs in a \\'illage street, \nA shape in the moonhght, a bulk in the dark, \nAnd beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark \nStruck out by a steed filing fearless, and fleet: \nThat was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light \nThe fate of a nation was riding that night.\" \n\nI once had the pleasure of holding in my hand \nthe small gold watch that rested in Revere's \npocket as he made his daring ride. Paul Re- \nvere left this watch by his will to his son, Joseph \nRevere, who in turn passed it down to Colonel \nFrederick W. Lincoln of Canton, his nephew, \nand the revolutionary scout's grandson. This \nColonel Lincoln was for many years the head \nof the Revere Copper Company's works in \nCanton, the industiy, it will be remembered, \nwith which Paul Revere was so long connected. \n\nFrederick W. Lincoln, the mayor of Boston, \nwas adopted by Colonel Lincoln, and because \nof this, as well as from the fact that he was the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 131 \n\npatriot Paul's great-grandson, he would have \nbeen the natural heir to the watch. But Colonel \nLincoln had in the present owner's father, Dr. \nPhineas Miller Crane, late of East Boston, a \nfriend as near and dear to him as Damon was \nto Pythias. \n\nDr. Crane was the son of Major-General \nElijah Crane, who commanded the troops in \nNew England during the War of 1812, and \nwas also in his time high sheriff of the county and \ngrand master of the grand lodge of Massachu- \nsetts Free and Accepted Masons. Dr. Crane \nwas often at his friend's home in Canton, and \nthere one day he met the young lady with whom \nhe fell in love, and whom he resolved to marry. \nHe had just graduated from Harvard College \nand the Harvard medical school, but soon he \nestablished a practice, and in 1833 he persuaded \nSusan Dwight to share his home and fortunes. \n\nDr. Crane had often admired the Paul Revere \nwatch, and his love for the timepiece was shared \nby his bride. One day, in the course of con- \nversation, he let this fact drop to Colonel \nLincoln, proposing, half in jest, that he sell him \nthe watch to give his bride as a wedding present. \nColonel Lincoln was, of course, not in the least \ntempted by the money, and he was naturally \nsomewhat averse, anyhow, to having the relic \ngo to one not of the Revere blood, but it seemed \nto him a splendid opportunity to put the seal \n\n\n132 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\non a friendship that had meant much to both \nmen, as well as to Miss Dwight, and he consented \nto part with the watch. \n\nFrom that time, 1833, till September, 1901, \nwhen she passed away, — leaving the watch to \nher son, Frederick Lincoln Crane, of Maiden, — \nINIrs. Crane cherished this relic with tenderest \nlove. All the Revere family and traditions \nwere known to her, Paul's daughter being long \none of her friends, and she fully appreciated the \ngreat honor done her in making her the custo- \ndian of the relic. On the slender chain, like \na woman's neck chain, which came with the \nwatch, her husband had her initials engraved, \nand these are still distinguishable. Rather \ncuriously, those little letters, S. H. C, are to- \nday the only marks on the handsome relic. \nThere is not even a maker's name. The number \nof the watch, which is in an 18-carat gold case, \nis 24,650, and that it was well made is demon- \nstrated by the fact that to-day, more than one \nhundred and twenty-five years after the night \nit served its owner on his famous ride, it keeps \ngood time. \n\nThis very interesting timepiece must have \npointed to twelve, midnight, when Revere rode \nup to the Lexington parsonage, at which Samuel \nAdams and John Hancock, together with Dorothy \nQuincy and her chaperon, Hancock's aunt, were \nstaying as guests. An orderly stationed out- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 133 \n\nside requested the horseman not to make so \nmuch noise, lest he disturb the family. \n\n\"Noise!\" answered Revere, \"you'll have \nnoise enough before long. The regulars are \ncoming out.\" \n\nWhen Hancock heard this stirring news, he \n\n\nTHE RESTORED HANCOCK-CLARK HOUSE, LEXINGTON \n\n\nwas impelled by martial pride, coupled, per- \nhaps, with the feeling that he must show him- \nself every inch a hero in the presence of his \nlady-love, to show fight and, in after years, his \nwidow related that it was only with great diflS- \nculty that he was dissuaded from going out to \njoin the soldiers who soon assembled. As it \nwas, he was all night cleaning his gun and sword, \nand putting his accoutrements in order. Adams' \n\n\n134 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ngood sense it was which finally settled the matter \nfor, clapping Hancock on the shoulder, he said, \ndecisively: \" That is not our business; we \nbelong to the cabinet.\" \" Yet it was not till \nbreak of day that Mr. Hancock could be per- \nsuaded that it would be improper for him to \nexpose himself against such a powerful force,\" \nran the story as his widow related it, nearly \nfifty years later at a little dinner-party given \nin Boston by Mr. Stephen Codman, — a party \nat which General William H. Sumner was one \nof the guests, and from which he hurried home \nto write down the lady's words just as they had \nfallen from her lips. \n\n\" But, overcome by the entreaties of his \nfriends, who convinced him that the enemy \nwould indeed triumph, if they could get him \nand Mr. Adams in their power; and finding \nby the inquiries of a British ofiicer (a forerunner \nof the army) who asked where Clark's tavern \nwas, that he was one of their objects, he, with \nMr. Adams, went over to Woburn,\" related \nHancock's Dorothy Q. The ladies remained \nand saw the battle commence. Mrs. Scott \nsays the British fired first, she is sure (after \nHancock's death his widow married Captain \nScott). This was a point much contested at \nthe time, and many depositions were taken to \nprove that the British were the actual aggressors. \n\n*' One of the first British bullets whizzed by \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 135 \n\nold Mrs. Hancock's head, as she was looking \nout of the door, and struck the barn,\" runs \nthis narrative as General Sumner wrote it. \n*' She cried out, What is that ? they told her it \nwas a bullet and she must take care of her- \nself. Mrs. Scott was at the chamber window \nlooking at the fight. She says two of the \nwounded men were brought into the house. \nOne of them, whose head was grazed by a ball, \ninsisted that he was dead ; the other, who was \nshot in the arm, behaved better. . . . \n\n\" After the British passed on towards Con- \ncord, they received a letter from Mr. Hancock \ninforming them where he and Mr. Adams were, \nwishing them to get into the carriage and come \nover and bring the fine salmon that they had \nhad sent to them for dinner. This they carried \nover in the carriage and had got it nicely cooked \nand were just sitting down to it, when in came a \nman from Lexington whose house was upon \nthe main road, and who cleared out, leaving \nhis wife and family at home, as soon as he saw \nthe British bayonets glistening as they de- \nscended the hills on their return from Concord. \nHalf frightened to death he exclaimed ' The \nBritish are coming! The British are coming! \nmy wife's in etarnity now.' Mr. Hancock and \nMr. Adams, supposing the British troops were \nat hand, went into the swamp and staid till \nthe alarm was over.\" \n\n\n136 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nUpon their return to the house Miss Quincy \ntold Mr. Hancock that, having left her father \nin Boston, she should return to him to-morrow. \n*' No, madam,\" said he, \" you shall not return as \nlong as there is a British bayonet left in Boston.\" \nShe, with the spirit of a woman, said : \" Recol- \nlect, Mr. Hancock, I am not under your control \nyet. I shall go in to my father to-morrow.\" \nBut she did not go. In fact it was three years \nlater when she next entered Boston. And then \nshe was Mrs. Hancock. \n\nWhat of Revere, however, after he had \nroused the inmates of the Clark house ? Let \nus return to his narrative, so as to get the story \nin his own picturesque language. \n\n\" After I had been there for half an hour Mr. \nDawes arrived who came from Boston over the \nneck; we set off for Concord & were over- \ntaken by a young gentleman named Prescot, \nwho belonged to Concord & was going home \n[He too, had been spending a happy evening \nwith his fiancee]. When we had got about half \nway from Lexington to Concord the other two \nstopped at a House to wake the man. I kept \nalong. When I had got about two hundred \nyards ahead of them I saw two officers as be- \nfore. I called to my companions to come up, \nsaying there were two of them (for I had \ntold them what Mr. Devens told me and of my \nbeing stopped) in an instant I saw four of them \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 137 \n\nwho rode up me with their pistols in their liaiid, \nsaid G — d d — n you stop, if you go an inch \nfurther you are a dead man.' immeaditly \nMr Prescot came up we attempted to git thro \nthem, but they kept before us and swore if \nwe did not turn into that pasture they would \nblow our brains out (they had placed themselves \nopposite to a pair of Barrs, and had taken the \nBarrs down) they forced us in, when we had \ngot in, Mr. Prescot said put on. \n\n\" He took to the left I to the right towards \na wood to the bottom of the Pasture intend- \ning, when I gained that, to jump my Horse \n& run afoot; just as I reached it out started \nsix officers, seized my bridle, put their Pistols \nto my breast, ordered me to dismount which \nI did : One of them who appeared to have the \nCommand there and much of a Gentleman, \nasked me where I came from; I told him, he \nasked what time I left it, I told him, he seemed \nsurprised, said Sir may I have your name, I an- \nswered my name is Revere, what said he Paul \nRevere; I answered yes; the others abused \nmuch but he told me not to be afraid no one \nshould hurt me; I told him they w^ould miss \ntheir aim. He said they should not, they were \nonly awaiting for some deserters they expected \ndown the road; I told him I knew^ better, I \nknew what they were after; that I had alarmed \nthe country all the way up, that their Boats w ere \n\n\n138 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncatched aground, and I should have 500 men \nthere soon; one of them said they had 1500 \ncoming: he seemed surprised and rode off into \nthe road, and informed them who took me, \nthey came down immeaditly on a full gallop, \none of them (whom I since learned was Major \nMitchell of the 5th Reg.) Clapped his Pistol \nto my head, and said he was going to ask me \nsome questions if I did not tell him the truth he \nwould blow my brains out. \n\n\" I told him I esteemed myself a Man of truth, \nthat he had stopped me on the higliAvay & made \nme a prisoner, I knew not by what right; I \nwould tell him the truth ; I was not afraid ; He \nthen asked me the same questions that the others \ndid, and many more, but was more particular; \nI gave him much the same answers; he then \nOrdered me to mount my horse, they first \nsearched me for pistols. When I was mounted \nthe Major took the reins out of my hand, and \nsaid by G — d Sir, you are not to ride with reins \nI assure you; and gave them to an officer on \nmy right to lead me, he then Ordered 4 men out \nof the Bushes & to mount their horses; they \nwere countrymen whom they had stopped who \nwere going home; then ordered us to march. \nHe said to me ' We are now going towards your \nfriends and if you attempt to run or we are \ninsulted we will blow your brains out.' When \nwe had got into the Road they formed a circle \n\n\nPhoto. Copyright, 1901, by F. S. Piper. \nTHE KOOJt OC'tri'IED BV HANCOCK AXl) ADAMS ON THE NIGHT \nOF PAUL REVERe's HIDE. \n\nPage 132 \n\n\nPhoto. Copyri-ht, i:t(U, by F. S. Piper. \nDID KITCHEN OF THE CI.ARK HOUSE. \n\nPage 132 \n\n\nTHE OLD BEI.FRY, LEXIXGTOX. \n\nPage 140 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 139 \n\nand ordered the prisoners in the centre: & \nto lead me in the front. We rid towards Lex- \nington, a quick pace; They very often insulted \nme calling me Rebel &c &c after we had gone \nabout a mile, I was given to the Serjant to lead, \nhe was Ordered to take out his pistol (he rode \nwith a hanger) and if I ran to execute the major's \nsentence ; Wlien we got within about half a mile \nof the meeting house we heard a gun fired; \nthe Major asked me what it was for, I told him \nto alarm the country; he ordered the four pris- \noners to dismount, they did, then one of the \nofficers dismounted and cutt the Bridles, and \nsaddels, off the Horses, & drove them away, \nand told the men they might go about their \nbusiness; I asked the Major to dismiss me, he \nsaid he would carry me let the consequences \nbe what it will. He then Ordered us to march, \nwhen we got within sight of the meeting House, \nwe heard a Volley of guns fired, as I supposed \nat the tavern as an alarm; the Major ordered \nus to halt, he asked me how far it was to Cam- \nbridge, and many more questions which I \nanswered; he then asked the Serjant if his horse \nwas tired, he said yes; he Ordered him to take \nmy horse; I dismounted, the Serjant mounted \nmy horse; they cutt the Bridles & Saddle of \nthe Serj ant's horse & rode off, down the road. \n\" I then went to the house where I left Messrs. \nAdams and Hancock, and told them what had \n\n\n140 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhappened, their friends advised them to go \nout of the Way; I went with them about two \nmiles across road: after resting myself I set \noff with another man to go back to the Tavern; \nto enquire the News; Wlien we got there, we \nwere told the troops were within two miles. \nWe went into the Tavern to git a Trunk of \npapers belonging to Col. Hancock, before we \nleft the House, I saw the ministeral troops from \nthe Chamber window, we made haste & had \nto pass our Militia, who were on the green be- \nhind the meeting house, to the number as I \nsupposed, about 50 or 60. I went thro them; \nas I passed I heard the commanding officer \nspeake to his men to this purpose, ' Lett the \ntroops pass by and don't molest them without \nThey begin first.' I had to go a cross Road but \nhad not got half Gun shot off, when the Minis- \nteral Troops appeared in sight behinde the \nMeeting House; they made a short halt, when \none gun was fired. I heard the report, turned \nmy head, and saw the Smoake in front of the \nTroops, they imeaditely gave a great shout, \nran a few paces, and then the whole fired. I \ncould first distinguish Iregular fireing, which I \nsupposed was the advance guard, and then \nplatoons, at this time I could not see our Militia \nfor they were covered from me by a house at the \nbottom of the Street.\" \n\nThis was the \" battle \" of Lexington. Just \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 141 \n\nwho began it we shall probably never know \nbut the chances are that, as Dorothy Qiiincy \nsaid, the regulars fired the first shot. Major \nPitcairn, \" who was a good Man in a bad \nCause, insisted upon it to the day of his Death \nthat the Colonists fired first. But he does not \nsay that he s-aw the Colonists fire first. Had he \nsaid it I would have believed him,\" wrote \nPresident Ezra Stiles of Yale in his Diary. \n\nIn any case the war of the Revolution was \nnow begun. On April 20 Hancock, as presi- \ndent of the Provincial Congress, advised those \npatriots still in Boston, to leave the town, and, \non that same day Revere was permanently \nengaged by Dr. Warren, president of the Com- \nmittee of Safety, \" as a messenger to do the out- \ndoors business for that committee.\" \n\n\nCHAPTER VII \n\nWHEN FANEUIL HALL WAS A PLAYHOUSE \n\nDIRECTLY after the skirmish at Lex- \nington and Concord, Governor Gage \nwrote to his friends in England: \" Con- \nciliation, moderation, reasoning is over; noth- \ning can be done now but by forcible means. \nTho' the people are not held in high estimation \nby the troops, yet they are numerous, worked \nup to a fury, and not a Boston rabble but the \nfarmers and the freeholders of the country. A \ncheck anywhere will be fatal and the first stroke \nwill decide a great deal. We should therefore \nbe strong and proceed on a good foundation \nbefore anything decisive is tried.\" Pursuant to \nwhich General Gage fortified Boston as care- \nfully as he could, — and the siege of that re- \nbellious town began. \n\nBut, though Boston was shut up, General \nGage could not prevent the minutemen from \npouring in from all directions to the surround- \ning settlements, and the day after the Lexing- \nton affair there was a good-sized army in Cam- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 143 \n\nbridge ready to do whatever might seem best for \nthe patriots' cause. They had not long to wait \nfor work. On the night of June 16 General \nWard, the commander of all the colonial forces, \nsent a detachment under Colonel Prescott, \ntogether with some Connecticut men under \nCaptain Knowlton, to takepossession of Charles- \ntown. The soldiers stopped on the top of Bunker \nHill, and then, after some discussion, decided \nto advance half a mile farther to Breed Farm, \nwhere the hill sloped toward the south and \nwhence they could command the town and \nshipping better. There they laid out a redoubt, \nat which they worked all night and, on the left, \nwas constructed a rude breastwork, known as the \nrail fence, at which the Connecticut men were \nstationed. \n\nWhen General Gage, from across the river, \nbeheld these evidences of military activity \nhe was not a little disturbed in mind. Yet it was \nnot until noon that General Howe, who with \nClinton and Burgoyne had now arrived in Bos- \nton at the head of reinforcements, landed with \ntwo thousand men near the present site of the \nCharlestown Navy Yard, and advanced against \nthe breastworks of the hill. \n\nWe need not fight here the battle which fol- \nlowed, nor attempt to depict the havoc that \nensued when Howe ordered the village of \nCharlestown to be set on fire. Suffice it to say \n\n\n144 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthat, after a hard contest, the Americans were \novercome by greater numbers and forced to \nleave their position, having a record of one \nhundred and forty-five men killed and missing, \nand three hundred and four wounded. Two \nhundred and twenty -four of the attacking force \nwere killed and eight hundred and thirty \nwounded. So only the pitiful lack of powder \non the American side prevented them from \ncarrying off an actual as well as a virtual victory. \nAs it was, however, the British were left in \npossession of the field, for they had carried the \nposition at the point of the bayonet and tech- \nnically the day was theirs. \n\nAmong the many Americans who distinguished \nthemselves at Bunker Hill the names of Pres- \ncott, Putnam and Warren stand out most \nclearly. Prescott was a Groton man, who had \nalready had military experience under General \nWinslow at the capture of Cape Breton. Of \nhis intrepidity on the day of the battle many \nanecdotes are told, among them that of the way \nin which he inspired confidence in his men. \nA private had been killed by a cannon ball and \nPrescott, perceiving that this had made some \nof the soldiers sick at heart, mounted the para- \npet and walked leisurely around it, cheering \nhis soldiers by approbation and humor. Gen- \neral Gage, who was reconnoitering the Ameri- \ncans through his glass, inquired of Councillor \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 145 \n\nWillard, near him, who that tall, commanding \nfigure was. Willard borrowed the glass, looked \n\n\nSTATUE OF COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT, BUNKER HILL \n\nthrough it, and said: *' It is my brother-in- \nlaw.\" \" Will he fight ? \" again inquired Gage. \n\" As long as a drop of blood remains in his \n\n\n146 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nveins,\" answered the other. Prescott had long \nbefore proved himself a fighter; to him is \nattributed the excellent advice given to the \nmen at Bunker Hill: \" Don't fire until you see \nthe whites of the enemies' eyes.\" \n\nPutnam, also, rendered very valuable service \nthat day. Accounts of his activities vary greatly, \nbut there is no doubt whatever that he was in \nthe hottest of the fight at the rail fence, that he \nwas applied to constantly for orders, — and \nthat he also gave orders without being applied to. \nA letter of the period gives us a vivid picture \nof the way in which he rallied reinforcements. \n\n'* Just after dinner on Sunday, 17th ult, I was \nwalking out from my lodgings [in Cambridge] \nquite calm and composed, and all at once the \ndrums beat to arms and bells rang and there \nwas a great noise. Captain Putnam came by \non full gallop. ' What is the matter ? ' says I. \n' Have you not heard ? ' ' No.' ' Why, the \nregulars are landing at Charlestown,' says he, \n* and father says you must all meet and march \nimmediately to Bunker Hill to oppose the \nenemy.' \n\n\" I waited not but ran and got my arms and \nammunition, and hastened to my company \n(who were in the church for barracks) and found \nthem nearly ready to march. We soon marched \n^vith our frocks and trousers on over our other \nclothes, (for our company is in uniform wholly \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 147 \n\nblue turned up with red) for we were lotli to \nexpose ourselves by our dress.\" No service \nwas more brilliant than that of these Con- \nnecticut troops, who, on a broiling summer's \nday, met the British, undeterred by the handicap \nof an extra suit of clothing. \n\nColonel Richard Gridley, the chief engineer \nof the army, who planned the works on Breed's \nHill, also rendered notable service during the \nbattle, and Colonel John Stark — afterwards \nthe hero of Bennington — behaved with char- \nacteristic bravery during the attack, leading his \nNew Hampshire men in a way which reflected \nlasting honor upon his state. \n\nThe hero far excellence of the fight on Bunker \nHill was, however, Dr. Joseph Warren, who, \nthree days before, had been elected major- \ngeneral, but whose commission had not yet been \nreceived by him. He is said to have disapproved \nthe occupation of so exposed a situation, but, \nwhen this action was decided upon, he resolved \nto share the peril of it, replying to the affectionate \nremonstrance of Elbridge Gerry: \" Dulce et \ndecorum est 'pro jmtria moriy The day before \nthe battle he ofiiciated as president of the pro- \nvincial congress, and that night he slept at \nWatertown. When he awoke, on the morning \nof the seventeenth, he was feeling very ill, and \nit Was only by the exercise of considerable for- \ntitude that he managed to journey to Cambridge, \n\n\n148 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwhere almost as soon as he arrived he threw him- \nself on a bed. Yet the instant he heard that the \nBritish were about to attack the works on Breed's \nHill, he declared his headache to be gone. Then, \nafter attending a hasty meeting with the Com- \nmittee of Safety, he armed himself and went to \nCharlestown. Putnam asked him for orders, \nbut Warren declined to give any, inquiring \nonly where he could be most useful. Putnam \ndirected him to the redoubt, remarking that \nthere he would be covered, but Warren instantly \nreplied: \" Don't think I come to seek a place \nof safety; tell me where the onset will be most \nfurious.\" Again Putnam pointed to the re- \ndoubt adding: \" That is the enemy's object, \nand if that can be defended the day is ours.\" \n\nWarren thereupon passed to the redoubt, \nwhere the men received him with cheers of \nenthusiasm. Prescott, who was only a colonel, \nand knew that, save for a technicality, Warren \nwould have been his major-general, here tendered \nhim the command, just as Putnam had done. \nBut again this honor was declined. Then the \nsoldier physician mingled in the fight, defending \nwith great bravery the redoubt which he was \none of the last to leave. In his retreat he seemed \nunconscious of the balls whizzing all about him, \nbut he had proceeded only a few rods when \none struck him in the face and he fell to the \nground, — dead. General Howe could scarcely \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 149 \n\ncredit this news when it came to him. Then he \ndeclared that \" that victim was worth five hun- \ndred of his men.\" \n\nOne of the British officers who was slain was \nPitcairn, who did not yield his place until he \nhad received four balls in his body. *' I have \nlost my father,\" his son exclaimed as he fell. \n\" We have all lost a father,\" was the echo of \nthe regiment. Burgoyne, who was directing \nthe firing of batteries in the harbor, related \nthat when Major Pitcairn was shot, his son \ncarried him on his back to the boats, a quarter \nof a mile off, kissed him and instantly returned \nto his duty. \" This circumstance in the hands \nof a good painter or historian,\" comments Bur- \ngoyne, who had quite an eye for the dramatic, \n\" would equal most that can be found in an- \ntiquity.\" \n\nThe house recognized by historians as the \none which sheltered Pitcairn during his mortal \nagony still stands on Prince Street, Boston. \nIt is known as the Stoddard house because \nThomas Stoddard, a boat-builder, lived there \nat the time, and assisted in carrying the wounded \nmajor there for treatment. As soon as General \nGage heard that Pitcairn was wounded he \nsummoned his own physician, Dr. Thomas Kast, \nand requested him to attend the patient, as the \nregular army surgeons were overwhelmed \\\\ith \nwork. Kast at once repaired to the Prince Street \n\n\n150 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhouse, arriving there late in the afternoon. When \nhe announced that he was come from General \nGage, to do all that was possible to help the \nmajor in his distress, Pitcairn, always courte- \nous, replied that he wished the doctor to thank \nthe general for his kindness in remembering \nhim, but added that he was afraid that he was \nbeyond all human aid. \n\nKast asked him where he was wounded, \nand on receiving a reply that it was \" Here, sir,\" \n— Pitcairn indicating his breast, — the doctor \nstarted to remove the sheets to examine the \nwound. Pitcairn, however, objected, saying: \n*' Excuse me; it is useless, my time is short. \nYou cannot do anything for my relief; my \nwound must cause death immediately; I am \nbleeding fast internally.\" \n\nDr. Kast still persisted, saying that perhaps \nthe wound was not as bad as the major supposed, \nand requested that he be allowed to examine \nit. \n\nPitcairn replied: \" Doctor, excuse me; I \nknow you can do nothing for me ; do not argue \nthe matter with me ... let me say a few Words \nto you about my private concerns.\" \n\nThe doctor listened to such messages as the \ndying man had to leave for his friends, after \nwhich Pitcairn allowed the doctor to open his \nvest and examine the wound. As he did so \nthe blood spurted out with great force, it is \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 151 \n\nsaid, leaving stains on the floor, which remained \nthere for many years. \n\nDr. Kast did what he coukl to aid the dying \nmajor, and then returned to report the case \nto General Gage. Before he arrived for a second \ntime at the house Major John Pitcairn had \npassed away. \n\nThe room in which he died is generally \nsupposed to be the one which to-day is just over \nthe store. In the eighteenth century there was \nno shop located in the house, as there is now, \nliving rooms being on all floors. Pitcairn's \nremains were placed under Christ Church and \nthe story goes that when, some years afterward, \nthey were sought to be sent back to England, \nanother body was sent in their stead, owing to \nthe difficulty of identification! \n\nAs for Warren's body, it was buried the next \nday on the spot where he fell by two young \nvisitors to the battle-ground who recognized \nhis Well-known figure. In the following April the \nbody Was re-interred, with appropriate cere- \nmonies, and deposited, \" first in the Tremont \nCemetery and subsequently in the family vault \nunder St. Paul's church in Boston \" (Frothing- \nliam). Perhaps the most beautiful short tribute \nto the hero of Bunker Hill anywhere to be found \nwas that pronounced by Abigail Adams in her \nletter to her husband. \" Not all the havoc and \ndevastation they have made has wounded me \n\n\n152 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nlike the death of Warren. We want him in \nthe senate ; we want him in his profession ; we \nwant him in the field. We mourn for the citizen, \nthe senator, the physician and the warrior.\" \n\nIt is in the letters of Mrs. Adams, indeed, that \nwe get the best contemporary account of the \nway in which the Battle of Bunker Hill looked \nto those chiefly interested. On Sunday, June \n18, she wrote: \"The day — perhaps the de- \ncisive day — is come, on which the fate of \nAmerica depends. My bursting heart must find \nvent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear \nfriend Dr. Warren is no more, but fell gloriously \nfighting for his country; saying, Better to die \nhonorably in the field than ignominiously hang \nupon the gallows. Great is our loss. He has \ndistinguished himself in every engagement by \nhis courage and fortitude, by animating the \nsoldiers and leading them on by his own ex- \nample. ' The race is not to the swift, nor the \nbattle to the strong;' . . . Charlestown is laid \nin ashes. The battle began upon our intrench- \nments upon Bunker's Hill . . . and has not \nceased yet, and it is now three o'clock Sabbath \nafternoon. . . . The constant roar of the cannon \nis so distressing that we cannot eat drink or \nsleep. May we be supported and sustained in \nthe dreadful conflict. I shall tarry here [she \nwas at her home in Braintree] til it is thought \nunsafe by my friends; and then I have secured \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 153 \n\nmyself a retreat at your brother's who has kindly \noffered me a part of his house.\" \n\nIn Boston itself, now that the battle had been \nwaged and the people had proved that they could \nfight, there was real distress for the Americans. \nIn a letter written to her husband early in July \nMrs. Adams says: \" The present state of the \ninhabitants of Boston is that of the most abject \nslaves, under the most cruel and despotic of \ntyrants. Among many instances I could mention \nlet me relate one. Upon the seventeenth of June \nprinted handbills were posted up at the corners \nof the streets and upon houses, forbidding any \ninhabitants to go upon their houses or upon any \neminence on pain of death; the inhabitants \ndared not to look out of their houses nor to be \nheard or seen to ask a question. Our pris- \noners were brought over to the long wharf and \nthere lay all night, without any care of their \nwounds, or any resting-place but the pavements, \nuntil the next day when they exchanged it for the \njail. Their living cannot be good as they have \nno fresh provisions; their beef we hear is all \ngone and their wounded men die very fast, so \nthat they have a report that the bullets are pois- \noned. Fish they cannot have, they have ren- \ndered it so difficult to procure ; and the admiral \nis such a villain as to oblige every fishing- \nschooner to pay a dollar every time it goes out. \nThe money that has been paid for passes is \n\n\n154 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nincredible. Some have given ten, twenty or \nthirty dollars to get out with a small proportion \nof their things! \" \n\nJohn Andrews could not get a pass, as we \nhave seen, and even John Rowe, whose friends \nwere almost all Tories and who himself leaned \nhard to Gage's side, found himself forced to stay \non in the beleaguered city. This was a measure \nof self -protection on the part of the British ; they \nfeared that the city would be destroyed by \nthe Americans unless some of their own kins- \nfolk were kept there as hostages. Rowe's \nDiary, usually illuminating, because it gives so- \ncial details as well as bare facts, is unfortunately \nmissing for the period from the Battle of Bunker \nHill to the end of that year. But John Andrews' \nletters have taken us over the same ground, so \nwe may very well skip now to the interesting \nentry made by Mr. Rowe on December 29, — \nwhich entry has already given us our chapter- \nheading: \" The Busy Body Acted tonight.\" \nRowe does not say where this theatrical per- \nformance took place, but we know from other \nsources that the scene of the festivity was in \nFaneuil Hall, and that the actors were a number \nof officers and ladies who had formed themselves \ninto a Society for Promoting Theatrical Amuse- \nments (under the patronage of General Howe) \nand who, in their announcement, stated that \ntheir own amusement and the benevolent pur- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 155 \n\npose of contributing to the relief of distressed \nsoldiers, their widows and children, were the \ntwo objects they as \" Promoters \" had in mind. \n\n\nFANEUIL HALL \n\n\nThe performances at the Faneuil Hall play- \nhouse began at six o'clock, and the entrance fee \nwas one dollar for the pit and a quarter of a \ndollar for the gallery. For some reason, either \n\n\n156 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbecause the play was immensely popular or from \nsome difficulty with the currency, those in \ncharge were obliged to announce after a few \nevenings: \" The managers will have the house \nstrictly surveyed and give out tickets for the \nnumber it will contain. The most positive \norders are given out not to take money at the \ndoor, and it is hoped gentlemen of the army will \nnot use their influence over the sergeants who \nare door-keepers, to induce them to disobey that \norder as it is meant entirely to promote the ease \nand convenience of the public by not crowding \nthe theatre.\" \n\nBeside The Busybody, there were given in \nthis improvised playhouse the tragedies of \nTamerlane and Zara, and the farces of The \nCitizen and The Apprentice. The most notable \npiece presented was the local farce of The Block- \nade of Boston written by General Burgoyne, \nwho had a reputation as a wit and dramatist \nto sustain as well as high standing as an officer. \nBecause Burgoyne has no standing at all with \nmost Americans, however, I wish to give here \na little sketch of the man himself before pro- \nceeding to describe what happened at Faneuil \nHall the evening his farce was produced. For \none whom Lord Macaulay describes as the pos- \nsessor of \" wit, fashion and honor, an agreeable \ndramatic writer and an officer whose courage \nwas never questioned \" deserves more considera- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 157 \n\ntion than opprobrious characterization as \" the \nman who caused the old South Church to be \nturned into a riding-school.\" Particularly is \nother distinction his due, when we find that it \nwas not his regiment at all which turned the \nancient church to purposes of military exercise. \n\nJohn Burgoyne was born in the year 1722. \nHis father was the second son of the third baro- \nnet of the name, and his mother was the daughter \nand heiress of a wealthy London merchant. To \nthe bitter tongue of Horace Walpole may be \ntraced the slanderous assertion, long accepted \nas true, that Burgoyne was the natural son of \nLord Bingley. All evidence, however, estab- \nlishes his parentage as above stated. Young \nBurgoyne entered the army at an early age and, \nwhen he was scarcely more than a boy, he made \nan imprudent marriage. For his wife was Lady \nCharlotte Stanley, daughter of one of England's \ngreatest peers, and, because the young people \nknew her father's consent could not be gained, \nthey summarily eloped. \n\nNow, charming and socially gifted though \nhe was, even Burgoyne could not solve success- \nfully the problem of a living for two people on \nan income too small for one. So, in 1747, he \nretired from the army and took up his abode \non the Continent. At this period the Burgoynes \nformed that friendship with the Franklands \nof Boston which was renewed, during the siege, \n\n\n158 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nby the widow (Agnes Surriage) of him who had \nformerly been collector of the Boston port. \n\nIn 1757 Burgoyne went back to the army, \nand he served his country with great distinction \nin the numerous wars which England then had \non her hands. Then during the period of the \nSeven Years Peace he travelled again, inci- \ndentally making the acquaintance in Germany \nof the Baroness Riedesel and her husband, — \na friendship to which the Baroness refers in \nletters written while she was a prisoner in Cam- \nbridge. \n\nThat Burgoyne was highly honored at this \ntime of his life by the finest spirits in England \nis shown by the following letter from the Earl of \nChatham : \n\n\" December 14, 1766. \n\" Dear Sir, \n\n*' I will not attempt to tell you how much \npleasure and how much instruction I have re- \nceived from the Observations &c which you \nwere good enough to send me. It would not \nbe less difficult to describe the sensations which \nthe honour of the letter accompanying the Ob- \nservations have filled me with. Allow me to \noffer in one hasty line more real acknowledge- \nments than the longest letter could contain; \nand to assure you that I count the minutes while \nindispensable business deprives me of the pleas- \nure of seeing you. If Wednesday morning next \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 159 \n\nat Eleven should suit your convenience, I shall \nbe extremely happy in the honour of seeing you \nat that time. I am, with the truest esteem and \nmost distinguished consideration, Dear Sir, \n\n\" Your most faithful and most obedient hum- \nble servant \n\n\" Chatham.\" \n\nWith a handsome person, a manner the charm \nof which neither man nor woman could, it was \nsaid, easily resist, a genial kindly nature which \ndrew all hearts towards him, a ready wit and a \ncultivated mind, Burgoyne was indeed, at this \nperiod, a favorite in high circles. Sir Joshua \nReynolds was one of his intimate friends and, \n\" after Reynolds had painted his picture in \n1766, he and Burgoyne met constantly in the \nGreen Room of Drury Lane, at the dinners of \nthe Thursday Night Club, at the Star and Gar- \nter, in fact at every place of amusement where \nthe gay, the witty and the well-bred of London \nwere gathered together.\" \n\nAll this while, too, Burgoyne was very happy \nin his home life, for the imprudent marriage \nhad been one of deep and abiding affection, \nand a little fortune to which his \\nfe soon suc- \nceeded made the bread and butter side of life \nfairly easy. In 1769 he was returned to Parlia- \nment from Preston. One of his constituents on \nthis occasion, it is interesting to note in passing. \n\n\n160 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwas Richard Avkwright, who had recently ar- \nrived in the town to put up his first spinning \njenny, and who was so destitute at the time \nthat the suit in which he went to the polls \nto vote for Burgoyne had to be raised by a \nsubscription! \n\nWhen George III decided to strengthen the \narmy in America, Parliament by no means \nagreed that the step was necessary. Certain \ndistinguished members saw clearly, indeed, that \nsuch action would greatly lessen the chances of \nan amicable adjustment of the difficulty. \nCharles Fox said that '* he could not consent \nto the bloody consequences of so silly a contest \nabout so silly an object, conducted in the siUiest \nmanner that history or observation had ever \nfurnished an instance of, and from which we \nwere likely to derive nothing but poverty, \ndisgrace, defeat and ruin.\" Yet notwithstand- \ning these and similar Warnings, military rein- \nforcements were despatched to Boston, early \nin 1775, and in the spring of that year Major- \nGenerals Sir William Howe, Clinton and Bur- \ngoyne arrived in the rebellious town and placed \nthemselves under the command of General \nGage. \n\nBurgoyne had not sought this service. For \nseveral personal reasons he was distinctly dis- \ninchned, indeed, to the American post. On \nthis account it is interesting to read his own \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 161 \n\nannoyed description of the manner in which \nhe was told of his appointment. Lord Barring- \nton had sent for him and after a few desultory \nremarks, \" his lordship, with a sort of abrupt- \nness something like what Horace recommends \nto an epic poet, launching instantly in medias \nres, said he ' hoped and did not doubt that every- \nthing in America would mend, when I and the \ntwo other generals for whom he was to make out \nletters of service should arrive there.' The \nperfect indifference of his countenance, the tone \nof voice, the whole manner of opening to \nme one of the most important, of the most \nunexpected and, as might naturally be sup- \nposed, the most disagreeable events of my life \nsuited the idea I had ever entertained of his \nlordship's feelings. . . . \n\n\" To separate for a length of time perhaps \nforever from the tenderest, the faithfulest, the \nmost aimiable companion and friend that ever \nman was blest with — a wife in whom, in four \nand twenty years I never could find a momentary \nact of blame! The narrow circumstances, per- \nhaps the distressed state in which she might \nfind herself at my death, added severely to my \nanxieties. Men of the world in general are too \ncallously composed to conceive what I endured. \nMy intimates, even those of most sensibility, ac- \nquainted with the levities ... of my common \ncourse of life, might have wanted faith in my sin- \n\n\n162 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncerity; I therefore concealed my heart from all; \nand I even suffered my dearest Charlotte herself \n— not, I hope, to doubt that I felt, — but \nrather to be ignorant how much I felt, than to \nexpatiate on a subject that would be so afflicting \nto her in the tender and delicate state of her \nmind and health. . . . \n\n\" To General Howe I thought it a point of \nhonor to mention that I wished myself em- \nployed in some more active station than the mere \ninspection of a brigade. He answered that ' he \nowned he wished to avoid going to Boston if pos- \nsible.' I knew the reason given publicly by all his \nfriends for that msh was the obligation his family \nowed to the Bostonians, who had raised a \nmonument to the late Lord Howe. However, \nI very soon discovered that the secret and real \nreason was the low opinion he held of the com- \nmander-in-chief as a soldier. I believe he did \njustice, with all the world, to his personal and \nprivate character, but dreaded acting imme- \ndiately under the orders of an officer whose \ntalents were far inferior to his command.\" \n\nBurgoyne's disinclination to leave England \njust then was in large measure due, as has been \nseen, to anxiety about the health of his wife. \nOn the eve of his embarkation he wrote the \nKing a letter explaining this, which he left in \nthe hands of a friend with directions to deliver \nit in case of his death. It was never needed. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 163 \n\nfor the lady herself died in the autumn of 1776. \nBut on the back of the letter says De Fon- \nblanque, in his admirable work on Burgoyne, \nis the entry: \" Though this letter was ren- \ndered useless by the death of Lady Charlotte \nI preserved the copy to show my thoughts of \nthat excellent woman at different periods of \nmy life.\" The letter itself is a credit to Bur- \ngoyne's heart: \n\n\" Portsmouth, April 18th, 1775 \n\" Sire, Whenever this letter shall be delivered \nto your majesty the writer of it will be no more. \nIt may therefore be esteemed an address from \nbeyond the grave, and under that idea I am \npersuaded your majesty will consider with \nindulgence both the matter and the expression. \n\" My purpose, sire, is to recommend to your \nroyal protection Lady Charlotte Burgoyne, who \nat my death will have to combat the severest \ncalamities of life, — a weak frame of body, \nvery narrow circumstances, and a heart replete \nwith those agonies which follow the loss of an \nobject it has long held dear. . . . Your Majesty, \nacquainted with the value of female excellence, \nwill hear without impatience a husband's praises. \nI protest, with the sincerity of a man who medi- \ntates death while he writes, and calls God to \nwitness to his testimony, that, in the great \nduties of life I do not know that Lady Charlotte \n\n\n164 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\never committed a fault, except that, if a fault \nit can be called, of love and generosity, which \ndirected her choice to me without consulting her \nfamily — even that is now cancelled in their \neyes, upon a review of our happiness during \na course of twenty-four years, no minute of \nwhich has been embittered except by sickness \nor separation. \n\n\" My heart tells me. Sire, that I am not \npresumptuous in this application. I received \nyour Majesty's commands for America with \nregret, the first sensation of that nature I ever \nexperienced in a call for service, but I have \nnot a less sense of duty; I have scorned to \npropose terms to my obedience, or to take ad- \nvantage of the crisis of receiving your royal \norders to prefer a petition for the provision \nof my family. I rely on your Majesty's heart \nto accept with indulgence this humble mark of \nmy respect, and I take confidence to assure your \nMajesty that, whatever may be my fate in \nensuing trials, I shall be found to my last \nmoment, \n\n*' Your Majesty's zealous soldier and most \nfaithful subject \n\nJ. BURGOYNE.\" \n\nThings in Boston proved to be even worse \nthan Burgoyne had anticipated, and very soon \nhe was sending back to England his understand- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 165 \n\ning of the reasons why the king's troops had \nmade so little headway. Gage, he felt positive, \nwas not in the least the man for the place he \nheld! \" I believe him capable,\" he wrote, \" of \nfiguring upon ordinary and given lines of con- \nduct; but his mind has not resources for great \nand sudden and hardy exertions, which spring \nself-suggested in extraordinary characters and \ngenerally overbear all opposition. ... I hope \nI shall not be thought to disparage my general \nand my friend in pronouncing him unequal to \nhis situation when I add that / think it one hi \nwhich Caesar might have jailed.'' \n\nBurgoyne, a little further on, in the letter \njust quoted, laments the lack of spies, adding \nthat, if the Americans had been taken in time, \nalmost any of them might have been bought for \nEnglish uses. That he was wrong in this I \nhave no need, of course, to say. But that one \nAmerican officer. General Charles Lee, prac- \ntically offered himself to Burgoyne there is \nunfortunately no doubt whatever. Lee was \nundoubtedly a man of considerable ability and \ngreat accomplishments, versed in the law, and \nfluent, not only in most of the Continental lan- \nguages but in several Indian dialects, also. \nHe was, besides, a brave soldier. In the Ameri- \ncan campaign against the French his service \nelicited high commendation, and he later served \nwith distinction the English cause in Portugal, \n\n\n166 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nPoland and Turkey. While in Portugal he was \nclosely associated with Burgoyne and promptly \nupon that general's arrival in Boston, he wrote \nto bid him welcome. De Fonblanque quotes \nthis letter and one or two others from the re- \nmarkable correspondence which ensued. But \nthe interview therein suggested never came off, \nand Lee continued to be a major-general on the \nAmerican side. In 1778, he was brought to a \ncourt martial by Washington for insubordina- \ntion, and Lafayette has left it on record that \nthe only time he ever heard Washington swear \nwas when, about this time, he called General \nCharles Lee a \" damned poltroon.\" In another \nplace I have given a rather careful sketch of \nthis soldier of fortune, so I will not longer allow \nhis vagaries to delay the rising of the curtain \nupon Burgoyne's piece, \" The Blockade of \nBoston.\" \n\nIt was booked to be given for the first time \non any stage at Faneuil Hall on the evening of \nJanuary 8, 1776. The comedy of the Busybody \nhad already been acted, and the orchestra was \nplaying an introduction for the farce, when the \nactors behind the scenes heard an exaggerated \nreport of a raid made upon Charlestown by a \nsmall party of Americans. One of the actors, \ndressed for his part, that of a Yankee sergeant, \ncame forward upon the stage, called silence, and \ninformed the audience that the alarm guns \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 167 \n\nhad been fired and that Charlestown was the \nscene of a battle. \n\nTaking this for the opening portion of the \nnew piece the audience applauded enthusiasti- \ncally. Then, suddenly, an order was given \nin dead earnest for the officers to return to their \nposts. Naturally the hall was thrown into \ndire confusion at this, the officers jumping over \nthe orchestra, at great expense to the fiddles, \nthe actors rushing wildly about in their eager- \nness to get rid of their make-up and costumes, \nthe ladies alternately fainting and screaming. \nBut they had to revive themselves and get home \nas best they could — - those ladies. For some \ntime it was the chief delight of the patriot dames \nto relate how the feminine portion of the revel- \nlers were obliged to pick their way home through \nthe dark Boston streets unattended by any of \ntheir usual escorts. The News Letter published \nby Madam Draper all through the Siege, duly \nreports the incident, and adds: \" As soon as \nthose parts in the Boston Blockade which are \nvacant by some gentlemen being ordered to \nCharlestown can be filled, that farce will be \nperformed, with the tragedy of Tamerlane.\" \nRowe's Diary records that the play actually \ncame off on January 22. \n\nYet, try as they would to divert themselves, \nit was mighty dull work for the officers as well \nas for the Americans to stay cooped up through \n\n\n168 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe dismal winter months on the little peninsula \nthat then constituted Boston. In its physical \nfeatures the Boston of the period was much \nnearer to that occupied by Blackstone than to \nthe Boston of to-day. It still had its three rough \nhills, — Copp's, Fort and the three-headed \nBeacon Hill; its coves, including the mill pond, \nbounded roughly by what we now know as \nPrince, Salem, Hanover, Hawkins, Green and \nLeverett Streets, and it was dammed by the \ncauseway, — now Causeway Street, — and con- \nnected with the harbor by the mill creek. The \nCommon ended in a marsh a little below where \nCharles Street now borders it. The whole \npeninsula comprised less than a thousand acres, \nbeing about a mile and three quarters long from \nthe neck to Winnisimmet Ferry and a little \nmore than a mile wide at its widest point. There \nwere no bridges connecting the town with the \nneighboring points of land, and when Lord \nPercy travelled out to Lexington to carry aid \nto Colonel Pitcairn he had perforce to go by \nway of Boston neck to Brookline and cross \nBrighton bridge, — the only one which then \nspanned Charles River. \n\nThe population was now reduced to six \nthousand, five hundred and seventy-three by \nactual count — in July — exclusive of the troops \nwith their wives and children. Of these the \nspiritual pastor was Dr. Andrew Eliot, whose \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 169 \n\ncongregation at the new North Church had been \nthe largest in Boston for the years immediately \npreceding the Revolution. He had stayed on \nin the beleaguered town, fulfilling his duties \nas preacher faithfully, while acting, also, as \nthe tender friend of the poor people, who were \nmany of them in great need. Dr. Eliot pluckily \npreached the Thursday lecture as long as even \n\" two or three were gathered together *' to \nlisten. But his Diary for November 30 (1775) \nnotes pathetically: \" Preached T. L. The at- \ntendance of this lecture being exceedingly small \nand our work greatly increased in other respects. \nDr. Mather and I, who since the departure \nof our other Brethren, had preached it alter- \nnately, thought proper to lay it down for the \npresent. I preached the last sermon from these \nwords in Rev. 2, ' Remember how thou hast \nreceived &c.' An affecting occasion of laying \ndown a lecture which had subsisted more than \n140 years. The small congregation was much \nmoved at the conclusion.\" \n\nFor the officers King's Chapel or Christ \nChurch were the customary places of worship, \nwhile Trinity, the other Episcopal edifice, gave \nspiritual comfort to Rowe and his friends. \nThe Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, Jr., was rector at \nChrist Church and Dr. Henry Caner was in \ncharge of King's Chapel. Both stuck to the \nregular Church of England service as long \n\n\n170 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nas they remained in the town, which was until \nthe evacuation. At Trinity, on the contrary, a \nslight effort was made to accommodate the \nliturgy to the patriotic feelings of the time and, \nwhen Rev. Dr. William Walter, the rector, de- \nparted for Halifax with the British troops. \nRev. Samuel Parker, his assistant, was per- \nsuaded by the good Dr. Eliot to remain at his \npost in order that Episcopalians might not be \nwholly left without a shepherd. \n\nIn the Hollis Street Church of ]Mather Byles, \nSr., troops had been quartered and the old West \nChurch and the Brattle Street Church were \nsimilarly requisitioned. As for the church in \nNorth Square — it was pulled down for fuel ; \nand the Old South, as every copy-book tells us, \nwas used for a riding-school. In justice to \nGeneral Howe it should, however, be said \nthat at the time of the evacuation, when the \ntemptation to despoil the enemy's property was \nvery great, he made every effort to restrain his \nmen. Once he even sent out this drastic order: \n\" The commander in chief, finding, that not- \nwithstanding former orders that have been given \nto forbid plundering, houses have been forced \nopen and robbed, he is therefore under the \nnecessity of declaring to the troops that the \nfirst soldier who is caught plundering will be \nhanged on the spot.\" \n\nConcerning the fine mansions of which the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 171 \n\nBritish took possession there is little that is \nstartling to relate. These officers were gentle- \nmen and they did no harm to the houses they \noccupied. Even Hancock's house, upon Gen- \neral Washington's report, received no damage \nworth mentionino;, the furniture and the familv \npictures being unmolested. General Clinton \nwas the tenant here, while Burgoyne occupied \nthe Bowdoin mansion, situated where the Uni- \ntarian Building now stands, Howe, like Gage \nbefore him, had his headquarters in the Prov- \nince House. Occasionally, of course, an officer \nin his cups would forget himself, and it is to one \nsuch, no doubt, that we owe the attack upon \nthe picture celebrated by Oliver Wendell Holmes \nin his poem, \" Dorothy Q.\" Holmes himself \ntold the story as follows: \n\n\" The painting hung in the house of my grand- \nfather, Oliver Wendell, which was occupied \nby British officers before the evacuation of \nBoston. One of these gentlemen amused him- \nself by stabbing poor Dorothy (the pictured one) \nas near the right eye as his swordsmanship \nwould serve him to do it. The canvas was so \ndecayed that it became necessary to remount \nthe painting, in the process of doing which \nthe hole made by the rapier was lost sight of.\" \nIn his poem, it will be recalled. Holmes prom- \nises the little maid to \n\n\"... heal the stab of the Red-Coat's blade,\"' \n\n\n172 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\na promise wliicli he surely may be said to have \namply kept. \n\nNone of the pastimes, honorable or other- \nwise, in which the British shut up in Boston \nindulged could change the fact that they had \nnot enough to eat, and that the provisions \nwhich they did get were often not of the best. \nThe Yankees outside had a joke that the Town \nBull, aged, twenty, was killed and cut up for the \nofficers' mess. Small favors were very grate- \nfully received, too, when they took the form of \nfood. \" Wliy should I complain of hard fare,\" \none officer in the town wrote his father. *' Gen- \neral Gage and all his family have for this month \npast lived upon salt provision. Last Saturday \nGeneral Putnam, in the true style of military \ncomplaisance which abolishes all personal re- \nsentment and smooths the horrors of war when \ndiscipline will permit, sent a present to General \nGage's lady of a fine quarter of veal, which was \nvery acceptable and received the return of \na very polite card of thanks.\" \n\nOne account, dated the middle of December, \nsays: \" The distress of the troops and inhabit- \nants in Boston is great beyond all possible \ndescription. Neither vegetables, flour nor pulse \nfor the inhabitants; and the king's stores so \nvery short none can be spared from them; no \nfuel and winter set in remarkably severe. The \ntroops and inhabitants absolutely and literally \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 173 \n\nstarving for want of provisions and fire. Even \nsalt provision is fifteen pence sterling per pound.\" \nAfter reading which one is more disposed to \nforgive the destruction of the old John Win- \nthrop house for purposes of firewood. \n\nThose inhabitants of the town who had money \nto spend did not lack necessities, though, if \nwe may trust the testimony of our old friend, \nJohn Andrews, who writing at the end of the \nsiege says: \" I am well in health, thank God, \nand have been the whole of the time, but have \nlived at the rate of six or seven hundred sterling \na year; for I was determined to eat fresh pro- \nvisions while it was to be got, let it cost what it \nWould; that since October I have scarce eat \nthree meals of salt meat, but supplied my \nfamily with fresh at the rate of one shilling to \none shilling sixpence sterling the pound. What \nwood was to be got was obliged to give at the \nrate of twenty dollars a cord, and coals, though \ngovernment had a plenty I could not procure \n(not being an addressor or an associate) though \nI offered so high as fifty dollars for a chaldron \nand that at a season when Nabby and John, \nthe only help I had, were under inoculation for \nthe small-pox, that, if you'll believe me, Bill, \nI was necessitated to burn horse-dung.\" \n\n\" Many were the instances,\" he continues, \n\" of the inhabitants being confined to the pro- \nvost for purchasing fuel of the soldiers, when \n\n\n174 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nno other means offered to keep them from per- \nishing with cold, yet such was the inhumanity \nof our masters that they were even denied the \nprivilege of buying the surplusage of the sol- \ndiers' rations. Though you may think we had \nplenty of cheese and porter yet we were obliged \n\n\nJ Here lies buried in a \nStone Crave lO fee^ deep \n\n^Cap. Daniel M^LCOM^..r.h' \nwho departed this Life \noclober 23* 1 769 \n\nAged 44 Years \na true son of Liberty \naFnend to the Publick \nan Enemy to opprefsion \nand one of the foremoa \nin oppofmg the ReveoueAcb \non America \n\n\nHere lies buried \n\nthe Body of \nK\"Ann Malcom \n\nWidow of \nCap Daniel Malcom \ndied April 4''' | 770 \nAged 40 Years \n\n\nSTONE IN COPP'S HILL, USED AS A TARGET BY BRITISH SOLDIERS \n\nto give from fifteen pence to two shillings a \npound for all we ate of the former, and a loaf \nof bread of the size we formerly gave three- \npence for thought ourselves well off to get for \na shilling. Butter at two shillings. Milk, for \nmonths without tasting any. Potatoes from \nnine shillings to ten shillings and sixpence a \nbushel and everything else in the same strain.'* \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 175 \n\nVery soon after the Battle of Bunker Hill, \nGeneral Howe succeeded Gage in the direction \nof the soldiers in Boston, and in his large mili- \ntary family things went on in fairly orderly \nfashion. The number of the troops (including \nwomen and children) was about fourteen thou- \nsand. Of these seven hundred men lived in bar- \nracks on Bunker Hill, while, of the remainder, \nall who were not stationed at the castle or on \nboard the fleet, lived in the town itself, some at \nthe Common, some in the intrenchments at the \nneck and in the fortification on Copp's Hill. \n(Those on the hill amused themselves by shoot- \ning at the gravestones erected there to patriots.) \nSome, as we have already seen, were quartered \nin houses. Looking back it is difficult to under- \nstand Howe's inaction, but the fact is that he \nbelieved the American army to be much stronger \nthan it really was and, after the experience of \nBunker Hill, the matter of occupying some of the \nposts commanding the town, — such as Dor- \nchester Heights, — did not seem to him an \nentirely easy proposition. To Lord Dartmouth \nhe wi'ote that the opposing army was not \" any \nways to be despised; it had in it, many Euro- \npean soldiers, and all or most of the young men \nof spirit in the country, who were exceedingly \ndiligent and attentive in their military profes- \nsion.*' The best that he could hope to do was \nto remove his army^ unimpaired in strength, to \n\n\n176 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nNew York, as soon as the necessary transports \nshould be available. \n\nBut the men over whom Washington had been \nmade commander-in-chief, immediately after \nBunker Hill, were by no means the well-regu- \nlated body they were generally thought to be. \nStealing, drunkenness, disobedience and de- \nsertion had to be combated constantly by the \nofl&cers, and those who best understood the actual \nsituation almost despaired, for a time, of ever \nfinding in the men at Cambridge a strong in- \nstrument for either attack or defence. General \nGreene wrote of them: \" They are naturally \nas brave and spirited as the peasantry of any \nother country; but you cannot expect veterans \nof a raw militia of only a few months' service. \nThe common people are exceedingly avari- \ncious; the genius of the people is commercial \nfrom their long intercourse with trade. The \nsentiment of honor, the true characteristic of \nthe soldier has not yet got the better of interest.\" \n\nYet there was, of course, a great deal of \nquiet heroism in that camp across the river from \nBoston. Many simple affectionate men were \nthere who longed greatly to return to their \nhomes, and yet remained steadfastly at their \nposts. One such was William Turner Miller, \nwho Wrote his wife: '* Dearest Lydia, I received \nyour kind letter by Mr. Burr as also the Ink- \nstand Corn & Cucumber you sent Every letter \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 177 \n\n& present from you is Like a Cordial to me in \nmy absence from you my Heart is delighted \nin Reading Your Letters Especially when on \nthe Countenance of them you Appear to be in \nHealth and when you appear by your Letters \nto be in Trouble I Long to participate with you/' \n\nHere, as in the Boston camp, there was every \nkind of accommodation for the soldiers. \" It \nis very diverting to walk among the camps,\" \nwrote the Rev. Mr. Emerson, who visited Cam- \nbridge just after Washington's arrival. \" They \nare as different in their form as the owners are \nin their dress and every tent is a portraiture \nof the temper and taste of the persons who en- \ncamp in it. Some are made of boards and some \nof sail-cloth. Some partly of one and some \npartly of the other. Again, others are made of \nstone and turf, brick and brush. Some are \nthrown up in a hurry; others curiously wrought \nwith doors and windows done with wreaths \nand withes in the manner of a basket. Some \nare your proper tents and marquees looking like \nthe regular camp of the enemy.\" \n\nThe critical time for Washington came at \nthe close of the year, — just when the chief \nconcern of the British officers was the proper \nproduction of Burgoyne's farce! For the \ncommander-in-chief of the American forces \nhad to face the problem of disbanding one \narmy and recruiting another within musket \n\n\n178 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nshot of the enemy. Moreover, he was almost \nwithout powder! At one time it was suddenly \ndiscovered that there was only half a pound \nof powder to a man. General Sullivan writes \nthat when General Washington heard of this \nhe was so much struck by the danger \" that he \ndid not utter a word for half an hour.\" Then \nmessengers were despatched to all the Southern \ncolonies to call in their stores, and a rule was \nsent out that every person who fired his gun \nwithout positive orders would be punished \nimmediately by a regimental court martial. A \nfavorite diversion* before this, had been that \nof firing at geese as they passed over the camp. \nWashington had long ago wished to attack \nBoston, but he could not get his officers to \nagree with him that this was an advisable step \nto take. Yet he urged it so earnestly and so \nrepeatedly that, on December 22, after long and \nserious debate, Congress passed a resolution \nauthorizing him to make an assault upon the \nBritish forces \" in any manner he might think \nexpedient notwithstanding the town and property \nin it might be destroyed.\" Upon the receipt \nof this resolution, the Chief again called a council \nof war and pointed out, that, in his judgment, \n\" it was indispensably necessary to make a \nbold attempt to conquer the ministerial troops \nin Boston before they could be reinforced in \nthe spring, if the means should be provided \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 179 \n\nand a favorable opportunity should offer.\" The \nresult of this council was a requisition on Massa- \nchusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire for \nthirteen regiments of militia. But there was \nstill a pitiful scarcity of military stores. \" Near \ntwo thousand men now in camp are without \nfirelocks,\" Washington wrote on February 9 \nand, on the next day, he declared in a letter to \nJoseph Reed: \" My own situation is so irksome \nto me at times, that if I did not consult the \npublic good more than my own tranquillity, I \nshould long ere this have put everything on the \ncast of a die. So far from my having an army \nof twenty thousand men well armed, I have \nbeen here with less than one half of that num- \nber, including sick, furloughed and on command, \nand those neither armed nor clothed as they \nshould be. In short, my situation is such that \nI have been obliged to use art to conceal it \nfrom my own officers,\" \n\nBut the time was now at hand for decisive \naction. As March came in, in its usual breezy \nfashion, the militia of the towns next to Dor- \nchester and Roxbury were ordered to repair to \nthe lines at these places, instantly upon a signal \nbeing given, carrying ^ith them their arms, am- \nmunitions and accoutrements. The plan was \nto occupy Dorchester Heights and so draw the \nBritish into some kind of movement. But \nWashington kept this plan carefully secret. \n\n\n180 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nand for the three nights of Saturday, Sunday \nand Monday, the 2nd, 3d, and 4th of March, \na furious cannonade was directed upon the \nenemy from Cobble Hill, Lechmere's Point and \nLamb's Dam with the intention of diverting \nattention. Then, on the third night, under the \ndirection of Gridley, who had planned the works \non Bunker Hill, and of Colonel Rufus Putnam, \na son of the general, intrenchments were erected \non Dorchester Heights, and men were marched \nto defend them while in Boston the unconscious \nBritish slept the sleep of the over-confident. \n\nFor the rest of the story we cannot do better \nthan turn to the journal of a young lieutenant \nin a Connecticut regiment who has left a vivid \nand minute description of the evacuation of \nBoston, — and of the events immediately pre- \nceding it, — as it appeared to an eye-witness \nimmensely interested in all that was going on. \n\nUnder the date of January 8, 1776, he records: \n\" About three o'clock came into camp at Rox- \nbury, found our company in the house that Col. \nHuntingdon lately occupied, fixed our straw \nbuncks, prepared our lodgins and went to \nbed a little after 8 o'clock; was soon alarmed \non the other side of the water; dressed myself, \nwent up on the hill, where I saw a small village \nnear the water, on the west of Charlestown, in \nflames. \n\n\" January 9. — After breakfast went over \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 181 \n\nto Col. Parson's regiment; saw Lieut. Baldwin \nand some others; drank some sling with them \nat Eldredge's; went into the regiment where I \nlit of Ensign Lyman, and drank some flip with \nhim; saw a man who was in last night's attack \non Charlestown, by whom I learned that about \nfour hundred men under Major Knowlton were \nsent there to burn the houses left standing by \nthe Regulars when they burnt the rest of the \ntown last June [at the Battle of Bunker Hill] \nwhich they effected with great success, burning \nall the houses except two or three, and took five \nprisoners without the loss of a man. \n\n\" January 10. — After breakfast took a view of \nthe town where we encamped last summer; \nnow a desolate place, the tents all struck and \ncarried off, the chimneys left partly standing \nand partly thrown down; but none of my com- \npanions with whom I have spent so many \nagreeable hours now appear there, nor will they \nagain for some are already numbered with the \ndead. \n\n\"January 11. — After breakfast went up \nonto our regimental parade where I lit of one \nLieut. Pidge of the minute men who belongs \nin Attleboro, as he tells me. I find him an \nhonest uncultivated fellow who talked very \nsensibly and freely on the two capital vices of \nthe country viz. the tyranny and pride of the \nClergy (or as he calls them, the Bandeliers) and \n\n\n182 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nenslaving the Africans; he made many just \nobservations thereon but in coarse vulgar lan- \nguage. \n\n\" Sunday, January 14. — About two o'clock \nwent to my friend Burrell's where we dined on a \nnoble good turkey, after which I sat awhile \n^ith him, his wife and some other ladies. \n\n** January 18. — After breakfast, I took a \nwalk up on the hill, and from there down to \nGeneral Spencer's. Coming back I met Capt \nMills who informed me of a report in camp that \nGeneral Montgomery had been defeated near \nQuebec ; but the Report being told several ways \nwe hope it is groundless. \n\n\" Sunday January 21. — After breakfast took \na walk up into the woods beyond Parker's the \nButcher and wrote twelve lines more of the Poem \nI have in hand, viz: \n\n' Can any one whom Heaven's care hath bless'd,' — \n\n\" Sunday Feb. 4. — Went to the Hospital \nabout 1 o'clock and attended the funeral of \nCharles W^iight of our company. He was buried \nin a new Burying Place at the south end of \nJamaica Pond. ... In the evening had con- \nsiderable discourse with Capt Jewett on the \nsubjects of Religion &c. \n\n\" Feb 14. — Just before day-light we were \nalarmed by seeing all the buildings on Dor- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 183 \n\nChester Neck in flames, which made a grand \nappearance. While viewing them I lost a sly \ndog of a prisoner, who made his escape from the \nGuard. Had a good breakfast of fried eels, \nafter which, feeling unwell, took a nap. \n\n\" Feb. 19. — Made an evening visit at Col. \nWyllys where met a number of gentlemen: \nwhile there Col. Robinson and Mr Chase came \nin with little Ashley who was about to engage \nMaj. Park in a duel, which was a matter of great \ndiversion to the company. \n\n\" Feb. 26. — After breakfast, Lieut. Harris \nand I set off for Cambridge, with Mr. Griffin, \nCapt Darrow, Ensign Pendleton &c. Obliged \nto go round by sign of the Punch Bowl on ac- \ncount of the bridge over the creek being broken \nto pieces by the ice: Arrived at Cambridge \nabout 11 o'clock, and went into a tavern for \nrefreshement, where we found Captain Giles \nWolcott; then went over to the Colleges and \nto the Artillery Park, where we spent some time \nin viewing the Artillery and other warlike stores ; \nthen went to Prospect Hill, where we saw Gen- \nerals Putnam and Sullivan viewing the works \n. . . came into town called in to see Lieut \nAdams where we found several ofl&cers playing \ncards, we here drank some toddy and dined on \nfresh codfish, fried. Set off for home, called \nin at a tavern in Brookline where we drank \nsome flip with Capt Mason from Lebanon. \n\n\n184 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nOur next remove We reached Capt. Darrow's \nquarters where we were very agreeably enter- \ntained by Dr. Eley's singing. . , , \n\n\" March 2. — I took a walk up to the Meeting \nHouse; saw the train at work fixing shells &c; \nalso saw four mortars which were brought over \nfrom Cambridge. A mighty report prevails \ntliat the militia of the neighboring towns for \ntwenty miles around are ordered to our assist- \nance in the intended attack on Boston.\" \n\nOur poet-soldier then proceeds to describe \nthis attack, dwelling particularly on the masterly \nway in which Dorchester Heights had been \nfortified for it. Yet he does not even mention \nin connection with this strategic move the name \nof General Artemas Ward to whom recently dis- \ncovered letters from Washington assign credit for \ntke step. The nearest he comes to it is in a ref- \nerence to \" Gen. Putnam and some other big of- \nficers.'\" (All of which interestingly bears out the \ncontention of General Dearborn that General Put- \nnam was at that time a much over-estimated per- \nson. \" He had entered our army,\" wrote Dearborn \nin 1818 in the course of his published Account \nof the Battle of Bunker Hill, \" at the commence- \nment of the Revolutionary War with such \nuniversal popularity as can scarcely now be \nconceived even by those who then felt the whole \nforce of it and no one can at this time offer any \nsatisfactory reasons why he was held in such \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 185 \n\nhigh estimation. I heard the gallant Colonel \nPrescott, observe after the war, at the table \nof his Excellency James Bowdoin, then gov- \nernor of this Commonwealth,\" adds Dearborn, \nwith evident relish, \" ' that he [Prescott] sent \nthree messengers during the battle to Gen. \nPutnam, requesting him to come forward and \ntake the command, — there being no general \nofficer present, and the relative rank of the \ncolonel not having been settled; but that he \nreceived no answer and that Putnam's whole \nconduct was such, both during the action and \nthe retreat, that he ought to have been shot.' \" \nFor, according to General Dearborn, Putnam \nkept too constantly, on this occasion, to the back \ndeclivity of Bunker Hill. Obviously, General \nDearborn and Colonel Prescott had not been \nhypnotized by him.) \n\n\" Sunday March 10 \" our lieutenant has some- \nthing veiy interesting to write down in his \njournal: \" By late movements in Boston it \nappears they are vastly alarmed; and that \nthe enemy are conveying away their treasure \nwith all speed; many think they will soon leave \nthe town. About 4 this p. m. I went with Lieut. \nHarris upon the hill and saw upwards of 20 \nvessels under sail, going out of the harbor. \n\n\" Sunday March 17. — Wliile at breakfast \nwas alarmed by the drums beating to arms and \nthe regiments were immediately hurried out. \n\n\n186 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nI went up to the north of Ruggles Fort where \n\n1 observed some very pecuhar movements of \nthe shipping; they continued faUing down the \nharbor many of them surrounded with great \nnumbers of boats till about noon. Then, I \nhear, the Selectmen of Boston came out to \nRoxbury and informed the Generals that the \nBritish troops had all embarked and left the \ntown; whereupon a detachment from our army \nmarched in with the American Standard dis- \nplayed, and took possession of the town about \n\n2 p. M. A party from Cambridge in boats landed \non the Common at the same time. \n\n\" I met with some trouble this night with a \npraying sentry,\" adds the poet in antichmax, \n\" which is not very common in camp. Walked \nout to Brookline before dinner with Lieut„ \nChamberlin and bought half a quire of paper \nat the moderate rate of 3s 4d. (^40^) \n\n\" March 19. — This evening the regulars \nblowed up part of the Castle and burnt the \nblock-house on the lower point. \n\n\" March 20. — A little after sunrise, hearing \na considerable cannonade down to the Castle, \nI went up on to the Hill and viewed the Castle, \nfort &c. Several guns were fired at the Castle \nwhile I was looking on. About 2 p. m. I went \ndown to the old Boston fortifications and saw \nwith great pleasure the curious works of the \nRegulars with many cannon &c which they left \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 187 \n\non the ground. Returned about sunset and \nreceived one month's wages, £5 8.X At about \nnine o'clock was going to bed, but observed a \nbright light down toward the Castle, went on \nto the Hill, where I had a fair prospect of the \nupper Block house and the large Barrack, with \nseveral other buildings on Castle Island all in \nflames, which so illuminated the air, that al- \nthough it was a dark night, yet out of curiosity, \nI read part of a letter lately received from my \nwife. . . . \n\n\" March 25. — Went up to our upper fort from \nwhich I saw part of the British fleet under sail. \n\n\"March 28. — Went over to Cambridge; \nwalked through the Burying Ground where I \nsaw many monuments. Afterwards I met \none Mr. Lambert, a Boston gentleman lately \nsettled in Cambridge, who showed me the famous \ncountry-seats of Governor Oliver, Mr. Fayer- \nweather. General Brattle, the Vassals and several \nother Tories who have fled to the ministerial \narmy for refuge, and thereby sold their country. \nI took a view of the artillery on Cambridge \nCommon where I observed among other valuable \npieces the famous ' Congress ' hooped up with \nbands of iron in the most shocking manner as if \nshe had been ailing. Called at the college and \nbought a newspaper and proceeded immediately \nto Bunker Hill where I viewed the grand forti- \nfications of the ministerialists which are indeed \n\n\n188 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nvastly formidable and equal, perhaps superior, \nto any in New England. Then viewed the ruins \nof Charlestown, a place beautifully situated \nand advantageous for trade. Not a single \nbuilding remains standing except a few bar- \nracks, block houses and huts erected by the \nBritish for their own necessity. It was thought \nto contain over one thousand houses before its \ndestruction. ... It is said that the British \nfleet sailed out of our harbor this morning and \nthat one of the transports was drove on shore \nin such a manner it is to be hoped she will not \nbe got off. \n\n\" March 29. — About noon Lieut. Waterman \nand I went into town up as far as the old South \nMeeting House and viewed the horrible de- \nstruction the ministerial troops had made in this \nfamous building which is no less than 86 feet in \nlength and 62 in width exclusive of the porches. \nThe whole inside of this great house is entirely \ntaken out except the gallery on one side and a \ngreat quantity of gravel laid on the floor to \nmake it convenient place to exercise their horses in. \n\n\" March 30. — After breakfast all the officers \nof our company Went into Boston. We called \nat several shops to buy such articles as we needed. \nAlso went to Faneuil Hall to see the market \nmightily thronged with people. Observed the \ndistinction made by the regulars in this elegant \nbuilding in order to fix it for a playhouse; . . . \n\n\n^gga'itaiftJ'jfe'j^a^-: \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 189 \n\nwe then proceeded to Beacon Hill Tv^iere the \nagreeable prospect is vastly pleasing. We \nviewed the grand seat of the celebrated Col. \nHancock together with the Almshouse and ad- \njacent parts of the Common, walked through \nthe town, observed two very large burying yards, \nthe famous Stone Chapel and then came home. \n\" April 2. — After breakfast went to Col. \nHuntingdon's where received my old ration \nmoney of Quartermaster Fanning £3, 10. 0. \nMet Capt Peters and went with him into Boston \nagain. Saw a peculiar scuffle between a soldier \nand an Irish woman. Went to the Town House \nand viewed all parts of this elegant building \nthough much damaged by the troops. From \nthe turret had an agreeable prospect of the differ- \nent parts of the town; thence the North end \nto Dr. Cutler's church and burying ground and \na three gun battery on Copp's Hill. Thence \nto Hancock's wharf where I saw a number \nof men dragging the harbor with a grapple for \ncarriages &c which the enemy had thrown in. \nSaw Daniel Prentice selling bacon to the poor \nBostonians. I then went up into the main street \nand with some difficulty obtained a dinner of \ncodfish, hence to the Hay Market where I \nstopped some time to see the train remove a \nheavy cannon from that battery to Fort Hill, \nthence to Herman Brimmer's where I bought two \npair of stockings.\" \n\n\n\\^^j \n\n\nCHAPTER VIII \n\nA PAINTER OF FAIR WOMEN \n\nTHE painter in question is, of course, John \nSingleton Copley, who was born in \nBoston in 1737, and who left his native \ntown, never to return, just before the outbreak \nof the Revolution. In calling Copley a painter \nof fair women, I have no wish, however, to \ndetract from his reputation as a painter of \nmen, also; for it is to him that we owe the stately \npictures we inevitably associate with the names \nof John Hancock, John Adams and scores of \nother patriots. \n\nYet it is certainly true that there is a sensi- \nbility and beauty in his pictures of girls and \nwomen for which one seeks in vain in many of \nhis male portraits. Very likely the dress of the \nwomen has something to do with this, for he \ndelighted in the rich draperies and soft laces, the \ndelicate textures and brilliant colors which \ncharacterized the female dress of his time. His \ngranddaughter, Mrs. M, B. Amory, — who has \nwritten a capital biography of him, — even \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 191 \n\nattributes to his taste and skill the beautiful \ncostumes which we admire to-day in all the \npictures of that period. In other words, his \nown feeling for line and color, in the dress of a \nwoman who might be sitting to him, reacted \nupon the fashions of the time. \" He had theo- \nries and principles,\" says Mrs. Amory, \" which \nwere carried out with a scrupulous elaboration, \nwhose effect heightened the charm of the pic- \nture. The rose, the jewel in the hair, the string \nof pearls around the throat, were no accidental \narrangement, but according to principles of \ntaste which he thoroughly understood. The \nhair ornamented in harmony with the full dress \nof the period ; the fall of lace shading the round- \nness and curve of the arm, were perhaps unim- \nportant details in themselves, but conduced, \nby their nice adjustment, to the harmonious \neffect of the composition. Added to these, \nhe delighted to place his subject among kindred \nscenes: sometimes we catch a glimpse, in the \ndistance, of garden or mansion; or at others of \nthe fountain and the grove, the squirrel, that \nfavorite of his brush, the bird and the spaniel, \n— all treated with equal grace and felicity.\" \nThis reference to the squirrel reminds us that \nit was through a masterly work in which that \nfascinating little creature figured that Copley \nfirst got his chance to be a famous London \npainter. \n\n\n192 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThe elder Copley died the year his son was \nborn, and John's stepfather, Peter Pelham, the \npainter and engraver, — who married Mrs. \nMary Copley when John was about nine years \nold, — himself passed away two years after \nthat marriage, leaving his widow so ill-provided \nfor that she was forced to keep a tobacco-shop \non Bowdoin Square to support herself. So the \nlad had no very careful education, and accord- \ning to his own words never saw a good picture \ntill after he left America. Some writers attribute \nto Smibert credit for Copley's early skill, but \nas the visit of that painter to America (in com- \npany with Dean Berkeley) came in 1728, — \nalmost a decade before Copley was born, — \nand as Smibert died when Copley was only \nthirteen the \" influence \" in question could \nscarcely have been very direct. \n\nFamily tradition tells us that Copley was, \nin truth, that exceedingly rare thing, — a natu- \nral genius. He began to draw on the walls \nof his nursery before he had ever ventured far \nfrom that narrow field of action, and he taught \nhimself to paint, — by painting. Wlien he was \nseventeen he quietly announced that painting \nwas to be his profession and, in 1760, when he \nwas twenty-three, he proved to Europe as well \nas America that he had made no mistake in \nhis choice of a calling. For that year he sent, \nwithout name or address, an exquisite portrait \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 193 \n\nof his half-brother, Henry Pelham, to Benjamin \nWest, a member of the Royal Academy, with \nthe request to have it placed in the Exhibition \nRooms. This picture, now well known as \" The \nBoy And The Flying Squirrel,\" elicited from \nWest at first sight the enthusiastic outburst: \n\" What delicious coloring, worthy of Titian \nhimself! \" Yet he was at a loss what to do \nabout the matter, as it was contrary to the rules \nof the Academy to place on its walls any picture \nby an unknown artist. West was perfectly \nsure, however, that this was the production of \nan American; he recognized m the wood on \nwhich the canvas was stretched the pine of the \nNew World and he knew the squirrel to be \nsuch as is found only in the western forests. \nSo, through his influence, this picture painted \nby a young countryman was admitted to the \nExliibition, in spite of the rules. Later, the \nletter which identified the work as that of Peter \nPelham 's stepson arrived. \n\nThe attention and admiration excited by \nthis remarkable painting were such that Cop- \nley's friends wrote most warmly to persuade \nhim to go to England for the pursuit of his voca- \ntion, and West extended to him a hospitable \ninvitation to be his guest in London. But the \nyoung man was now at the zenith, in Boston, of \nhis success as a portrait painter, and he had an \naged mother to support as well as his young \n\n\n194 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nstepbrother to train in habits of industry. Ac- \ncordingly, he put aside any thought of going \nabroad immediately and, with all diligence, \npursued the work which was right at hand. \nThere was then a great deal of wealth in and \nabout Boston, and it came to be as much a matter \nof course for a rich man to have his wife or \ndaughter painted by Copley as to send his son \nto Harvard. (Nearly three hundred portraits \nare credited to his brush during the twenty year \nperiod of his work in America.) By 1769, \ntherefore, Copley was able to marry the lady of \nhis choice, and that same year he made his \ninitial investment in real estate. \n\nAll the beauty of which Copley makes the \nmost in his various portraits of women was \npossessed in an exquisite way by this woman \nhe made his wife. Her name was Susannah and \nher father was Richard Clarke, a wealthy mer- \nchant of the town and agent for the East India \nCompany. Like the rest of Copley's subjects, \nshe had neither toiled nor spun, — one can \nnever associate any of his women with manual \nemployment, — and her pictures show her to \nhave had the high forehead and finely arched \nbrow, as well as the delicately tapering fingers \ncharacteristic of a Copley woman. Moreover, \nher character was in harmony with her person. \n*' She appears,\" says her biographer, \" to have \nbeen one of those rare women in whom the moral \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 195 \n\nand mental qualities, joined to deep sensibility, \nare so nicely balanced that they exert the hap- \npiest influence over the home circle, cheering \nand enlivening without dazzling it.\" \n\nThe investment in real estate to which allusion \nhas already been made, bore witness, as did \nthe painting of this self-taught artist, to his \nkeen sense of picturesque beauty. For, feeling \nthat the time must surely come when Beacon \nHill would be the favorite site for the homes of \nthe wealthy and discriminating, he acquired \nthere, for less than one hundred dollars an \nacre, a \" farm,\" as he called it, which comprised \nover eleven acres. This estate may be said to \nhave extended from Walnut Street, down Beacon \nStreet to the river, with the back or hill line \nreaching through Walnut Street to Mt. Vernon \nStreet and thence to Louisburg Square and \nacross the square to Pinckney Street. The last- \nnamed street to the river formed its northern \nboundary. \n\nAccording to Nathaniel I. Bowditch, Boston's \nold conveyancer, Copley's first transaction in \nrealty was the purchase in 1769 of East's pasture, \nthen so called, embracing two and a half acres, \nwhich in the old days was a part of Sewall's \nelm pasture, and in connection with the East \npasture, a tract of six acres in extent, known \nas the Blackstone lot, which latter lot was a part \nof the town's original grant of fifty acres to \n\n\n196 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nWilliam Blackstone, who was Boston's first \nsettler. \n\nThe land was purchased by Peter Chardon, \nan administrator of the estate of one Andrew \nCunningham. In 1770 Copley also secured \nanother parcel of the original Sewall pasture, also \ntwo and one-half acres in extent. This latter \ntract extended from Walnut Street along Beacon \nStreet, toward the river for two hundred and \nsixty feet, and running back to Mt. Vernon \nStreet, the line traversing diagonally through the \nlots on both sides of Chestnut Street. \n\nSuch was the \" farm \" of Boston's painter \nof 1770. Here he took up his residence, dis- \npensing hospitality in princely style, and rearing \nhis family of children. A snap-shot picture of \nhim in his own background here is given us by \nColonel John Trumbull in his Autobiography: \n** In January 1772 I was sent to Cambridge \nunder the care of my brother, who, in passing \nthrough Boston indulged me by taking me to \nsee the works of Mr. Copley. His house was on \nthe Common where Mr. Sears elegant grand \npalazzo stands [now occupied by the Somerset \nClub]. A mutual friend of Mr. Copley and my \nbrother, Mr. James Lovell, went with us to \nintroduce us. We found Mr. Copley dressed \nto receive a party of friends at dinner. I re- \nmember his dress and appearance, — an elegant- \nlooking man, dressed in a fine maroon cloth. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 197 \n\n^\\ath gilt buttons. This was dazzling to my \nunpracticed eye. But his paintings, the first \nI had ever seen deserving the name, riveted, \nabsorbed my attention, and renewed all my \ndesire to enter upon such a pursuit.\" \n\nHere Copley diligently practiced his art. \nColonial dignitaries of church and State, graceful \nwomen and lovely children climbed the steep \nhill to his home that he might put on canvas \ntheir various forms and features. Excepting \na visit to New York, in 1771, for the purpose of \npainting Colonel Washington, — as he was then \nknown, — and some other persons of distinction, \nthere were few events in his career. \n\nBut now the time arrived when Copley could \nno longer resist the desire to visit Europe and \ndrink in the inspiration that must come from \nviewing there the works of the great masters. \nLeaving his little group of loved ones he em- \nbarked for England not, as has been said by \nsome, because of his royalist tendencies, but \nwith the very simple and clear-cut object of \ngaining, now that he had earned it, the develop- \nment that every artist seeks when he goes abroad \nfor travel and observation. Copley's sympa- \nthies and judgment were enlisted always on the \nside of liberty and independence; he had never \nbeen in political accord with his father-in-law, \nwhom we know as one of the consignees of the \nhated tea. Still, the actual troubles of Boston \n\n\n198 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhad not broken out when he sailed for England \nin June, 1774; as soon, indeed, as the news- \npapers acquainted him with them, he began to \nupbraid himself bitterly for having left his wife \nunprotected behind him. \n\nYet, at first, there is only exultation in his \nletters. For had he not reached, at last, a land \nwhere there were pictures to be seen .? \"I have \njust returned from Mr. West's house,\" he writes \non July 21, 1774, \" where I took tea. He accom- \npanied me to the queen's palace where I beheld \nthe finest collection of paintings I have seen, \nand, I believe, the finest in England. ... I \nalso went to the Park, which has all the beauty \nthe most lively imagination can conceive of; \nthe ladies made such a show that it was almost \nenough to warm a statue and to endue it with \nlife. I have also been to Vauxhall and seen the \nladies assembled though not in such numbers as \nlater in the season. I went on board the queen's \nyacht, and here such a profusion of rich orna- \nment presented itself as cannot be described. \nThis is the ship that brought the queen, wife \nof George III, from Mecklenburg to England; \nthe cabin is lined with crimson damask, bed \nthe same. I have had a visit from Sir Joshua \nReynolds and Mr. Strange, the celebrated \nengraver. . . . Next week I shall be introduced \nto Lord Dartmouth by Governor Hutchinson.\" \n\nFor Hutchinson, now in high favor at court, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 199 \n\nwas, naturally, a person of whose good offices \na painter would gladly avail himself. At small \nand intimate affairs where George III and \nQueen Charlotte made it a point to meet and \ngreet each guest, he was always welcome, and \nonce the queen made him very proud by com- \nplimenting him on the appearance of his daugh- \nter, Margaret, to whom he was devotedly at- \ntached. \n\nThrough Hutchinson, indeed, Copley got \nthe great chance of this, his first visit to London. \nFor the king and queen themselves consented \nto sit to him! The pictures which resulted \nwere for Governor John Wentworth of New \nHampshire. \n\nItaly, however, was the Mecca of Copley's \nhopes, and to that country he soon pushed \nhappily on, sending his wife from Genoa, on \nOctober 8, 1774, the following exquisite love \nletter: '* Could I address you by any name \nmore dear than that of wife I should delight \nin using it when I write ; but how tender soever \nthe name may be, it is insufficient to convey the \nattachment I have for you. Although the con- \nnection of man and wife as man and wife may \nhave an end, yet that of love, which is pure and \nheavenly, may be perfected, — not that my love \nis not as perfect as it can be in the present \nstate, but we may be capable of loving more \nby being more conformed to the infinite Source \n\n\n200 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof love. I am very anxious lest you should suffer \nby my absence, but I shall make the disagreeable \nseparation as short as possible for my own sake, \nfor, till we are together, I have as little happiness \nas yourself.\" \n\nVery likely he was particularly glad, in the \nmidst of his anxieties about his family, of the \nopportunity which came to him in Rome to \npaint Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Izard of South Caro- \nlina. The resulting picture is now in the Boston \nMuseum of Fine Aits, and is full of the atmos- \nphere of the Eternal City. Mrs. Izard is sup- \nposed to have sketched in crayon the group of \nstatuary in the background. The artist catches \nher pose just as she is handing the sketch to her \nhusband for criticism. Mr. Izard seems to be \nsearching for the proper word with T\\'liich to \ncharacterize his wife's work; certainly he is \nnot looking at the drawing in his hand. \n\n\" As soon as possible you shall know what my \nprospects are in England,\" writes Copley to \nhis wife about this time, \" and then you will be \nable to determine whether it is best for you to \ngo there or for me to return to America. It is \nunpleasant to leave our dear connections; but \nif, in three or four years, I can make as much \nas will render the rest of our life easy and leave \nsomething to our family, if I should be called \naway, I believe that you would think it best \nto spend that time there; should this be done, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 201 \n\nbe assured I am ready to promise you that I \nwill go back and enjoy that domestic happiness \nwhich our little ' farm ' is so capable of affording. \nI am sure you would like England very much; \nit is a very paradise; but so, I think, is Boston \nCommon, if the town is what it once was.\" \n\nBut the town was no longer \" what it once \nwas!\" The encroachments of the British sol- \ndiers and the turbulent spirit of the patriots \ncombined to make it anything but a comfortable \nplace of residence for a quiet lady whose only \ndesire was to bring up her little brood in peace \nand comfort. \n\n\" I am sorry Boston has become so disagree- \nable,\" wrote Copley to his wife in October. \n\" I think this will determine me to stay in Eng- \nland, where I have no doubt I shall meet with \nas much to do as in Boston and on better terms. \nI might have begun many pictures in London, \nif I had pleased, and several persons are await- \ning my return to employ me. Mr. Wentworth \nwill keep his commission for the portraits of \ntheir majesties for me. But to give you the \ntrouble of crossing the sea with the children \nmakes me very anxious. As for my property \nin Boston, I cannot count it anything now. I \nbelieve I shall sink it all; it is very hard but it \nmust be submitted to. ... I fear my estate \nwill be greatly injured by the soldiers having the \nhill. I wish I had sold my whole place; I \n\n\n202 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nshould then have been worth something; I do \nnot know now that I have a shilling in the \nworld.\" \n\n\" My anxiety is greater than I can express for \nyou, our dear children and friends,\" he wrote \nfrom Rome in December. \" Wlien I reflect on \nthe condition Boston may be in I tremble for \nyou all; in a state of bloodshed and confusion \nno one is safe and I greatly fear the dispute \nwill end in the most fatal and dreadful conse- \nquences. We have the English papers every \npost; they come twice a week in the summer, \nin winter not so regularly; so I know tolerably \nwell what goes on of a public nature, and sin- \ncerely wish you were away from the town till \nit is in a different state. . . . The trouble you \nmust be in will quicken my return to England, \nfor I feel for you more than I can express. I \npray to God to keep you from every evil and, if \ngeneral confusion is inevitable, I hope it will \nnot take place till you are in England. It is \nsuggested that Lord Chatham is coming into \nthe administration; if so, the dispute will end \nspeedily in favor of the Americans. But I \nsuspect this will not be the case; it does not \nlook likely that the measure carried on with so \nmuch vigilance and seemingly with so deter- \nmined a resolution to humble the provinces \nwill be relinquished. When I reflect what a \nhappy people the Americans were, and how un- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 203 \n\nhappy they are at this time, I am much grieved; \nbut I have dwelt longer on the subject than I \nintended, and shall leave it, for I avoid engaging \nin politics, as I wish to preserve an undisturbed \nmind and a tranquillity inconsistent with polit- \nical disputes. . . . Should I now return to \nAmerica I should have nothing to do and cannot \nthink of going back to starve with my family.\" \nWhen the news reached him that war had \nactually broken out he was terribly disturbed. \n\" The country which was once the happiest \non the globe will be deluged with blood for many \nyears to come,\" he wrote. \" It seems as if no \nplan of reconciliation could now be formed; \nas the sword is drawn, all must finally be settled \nby the sword. I cannot think that the power of \ngreat Britain will subdue the country, if the \npeople are united as they appear to be at present. \nI know it may seem strange to some men of great \nunderstanding that I should hold such an \nopinion, but it is very evident to me that America \nwill have the power of resistance until strong \nto conquer, and that victory and independence \nwill go hand in hand.\" A little later he wrote: \n\" Whoever thinks the Americans can be easily \nsubdued is greatly mistaken; they will keep \ntheir enthusiasm alive until they are victorious. \nYou know, years ago, I was right in my opinion \nthat this would be the result of the attempt to \ntax the colony; it is now my settled conviction \n\n\n204 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthat all the power of Great Britain will not \nreduce them to obedience.\" \n\nMrs. Copley had already arrived in England, \nwhen he got back there, having sensibly taken \npassage for the old country as soon as Boston \nbecame the seat of war. While journeying with \nall speed to join her there, her artist-husband \nfell in with Brook Watson as travelling com- \npanion, a man who, though in the prime of life, \nhad for many years worn a wooden leg in place \nof one which, when a boy, he had sacrificed to \nthe rapacious appetite of a shark. From the \nchance encounter with Watson sprang Copley's \nfirst historical picture, — \"A Youth Rescued \nfrom a Shark.\" On one occasion, Professor \nAgassiz adduced in proof of his contention \nthat sharks would attack the living this picture, \nof which he remembered to have seen an en- \ngraving somewhere. \n\nPortraits, however, continued to be the work \nin which Copley was most successful, and of \nthese perhaps the best is the so-called family \npicture in which are represented the artist, his \nwife, his father-in-law, Richard Clarke, and \nhis four young children, three of whom survived \nhim to a very advanced age. Against a back- \nground which is undoubtedly a faithful tran- \nscript of the family sitting-room is shown Mrs. \nCopley, seated on a crimson couch and caressing \nher only son, the future Lord Lyndhurst, while \n\n\nJOHN SINGLETON COPLEY. \n\nFrom the portrait by the artist \nPage 198 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 205 \n\non the other side, his sister, scarce two years \nyounger, is endeavoring to attract her share \nof the mother's attention. Mr. Clarke, seated \nnear a window opening on a landscape scene, \nholds on his knee the baby of the family. In \nthe foreground stands the eldest child in the \nquaint attire of the last century, while the artist \nhimself, with palette in hand, contemplates the \nsweet domestic scene with a look of satisfaction. \nThe details of the picture are done with wonder- \nful care and accuracy, the stiff doll, the plump \nbaby, the hats and plumes, the silk stockings, \nbuckles and high-heeled shoes being marvels \nin their way. This picture, devised and exe- \ncuted just at the time when Copley collected \nhis family about him in his pleasant English \nhome, possesses, of course, decided autobio- \ngraphical interest as well. \n\nAmong the first pictures of American women \npainted after the artist had settled down in \nEngland is that usually known as x\\])igail Brom- \nfield and herewith reproduced. It is remarkable \nfor the effect of a windy day given by the ar- \nrangement of the lady's draperies. Miss Brom- \nfield was the first wife of Daniel Denison Rogers \nof Boston. \n\nBoth the Adams presidents were painted by \nCopley, John Adams in the well-known full- \nlength picture with a map of Europe in his hand \nand a globe at his side now in the possession \n\n\n206 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof Harvard College, and John Quincy Adams \nin the exquisite portrait owned by the Adams \nfamily, and now in the Boston Museum of Fine \nArts. The Copleys had a good deal to do with \nJohn Adams and his wife during our first min- \nister's diplomatic service in London on behalf \nof the infant colony ; for while her husband strove \nat court to maintain the dignity of America, \nMrs. Adams would stitch his shirts in Mrs. \nCopley's sitting-room and pour into the sym- \npathetic ears of the artist's wife her tale of scant \ncourtesy from the court, and the difficulty of \nmaintaining appearances on the niggardly salary \nher husband drew. \n\nThe manner in which Copley did his work is \nof distinct interest to us. He sadly tried the \npatience of his sitters by his minute care and \nthorough fidelity in the execution of a picture. \nSo thoroughly absorbed was he in the canvas \nbefore him that he required that a friend always \naccompany the sitter to keep up the flow of \nconversation and produce the animation which \nit was his task to bring out in line and color. \nNo persuasions, no complaints of fatigue, could \ninduce him to slight the most unimportant de- \ntail. And after hours of patient attention, the \nunfortunate sitter would often return to find \nevery trace of the preceding day's work ob- \nliterated and the faithful artist alertly ready \nto begin his task all over again. To this care \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 207 \n\nand fidelity we owe much of the value of Cop- \nley's portraits. \n\nPerhaps the most successful \" fancy picture \" \nof a woman which Copley ever produced [see \nfrontispiece] is that of the first Mrs. Richard \nDerby of Boston, — well remembered for her \nextreme beauty and charming manners, — whom \nhe painted under the guise of St. Cecilia. Mrs. \nDerby was the daughter of Dr. Nathaniel \nCoffin of Portland, Maine, and of his wife \nEleanor Foster of Charlestown, Massachusetts. \nShe married Richard Crowninshield Derby and \nthey lived in a house which stood on Chestnut \nStreet almost on the site now occupied by the \nTheological School of Boston University. \n\nOne of the Americans whom Copley painted \nabout this time was Elkanah Watson. Mr. \nWatson had the good fortune to be present \nwhen George III declared the United States to \nbe free and independent and to dine afterwards \nwith Copley. He has left us in his \" Men and \nTimes of the Revolution,\" a vivid account of \nthe scene, both in Parliament and at the paint- \ner's home. The date was December 5, 1782, \nand \" in conformity with previous arrange- \nments,\" he writes, \" I was conducted by the \nEarl of Ferrers to the very entrance of the House \nof Lords. At the door he whispered: * Get as \nnear the throne as you can; fear nothing.' I \ndid so and found myself exactly in front of it, \n\n\n208 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nelbow to elbow with the celebrated Admiral \nLord Howe. The Lords were promiscuously \nstanding as I entered. \n\n\" It was a dark and foggy day, and the win- \ndows being elevated and constructed in the an- \ntiquated style, with leaden bars to contain the \ndiamond cut panes of glass, increased the gloom. \nThe walls were hung with dark tapestry repre- \nsenting the defeat of the Spanish Armada. \nI had the pleasure of recognizing in the crowd \nof spectators Copley and West the painter with \nsome American ladies. I saw also some de- \njected American royalists in the group. \n\n\" After waiting nearly two hours the approach \nof the King was announced by a tremendous \nroar of artillery. He entered by a small door \non the left of the throne, and immediately seated \nhimself upon the Chair of State in a graceful \nattitude, with his right foot resting upon a \nstool. He was clothed in royal robes. Appar- \nently agitated he drew from his pocket the \nscroll containing his speech. The Commons \nwere summond; and after the bustle of their \nentrance had subsided, he proceeded to read \nhis speech. I was near the King and watched, \nwith intense interest, every tone of his voice \nand expression of his countenance. It was to \nme a moment of thrilling and dignified exalta- \ntion. ... It is remarked that George III is \ncelebrated for reading his speeches in a dis- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 209 \n\ntinct free and impressive manner. On this \noccasion he was evidently embarrassed. He \nhesitated, choked and executed the painful \nduties of the occasion with an ill grace that does \nnot belong to him.\" \n\n\" The painting of me had already been finished \nin most exquisite style,\" continues Watson, \n\" in every part except the background, in which \nCopley and I designed to represent a ship, \nbearing to America the acknowledgement of \nour independence. The sun was just rising \nfrom the stripes of the Union streaming from \nher gaff. All was complete save the flag which \nCopley had not deemed proper to hoist, as his \ngallery was the constant resort of the royal \nfamily and of the nobility. I dined with the \nartist on the glorious fifth of December 1782, \nafter listening with him to the speech of the king, \nformally recognizing the United States of America \nin the rank of nations. Previous to the dinner, \nand immediately after our return from the \nHouse of Lords Copley invited me into his studio ; \nand then, with a bold hand, a master's touch, \nand I believe, an American heart, he attached \nto the ship the Stars and Stripes. This was, I \nimagine, the first American flag hoisted in Old \nEngland.\" \n\nCopley's son. Lord Lyndhurst, had an Ameri- \ncan heart, too, even after he had become lord \nchancellor of England. A Boston-born boy, \n\n\n210 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhe never lost his feeling of kinship for the place. \nThere is a story that, on one occasion, having \nexpressed some opinion not quite palatable \nto William IV that monarch said to him cut- \ntingly: \" Pray, my Lord, when did you leave \nAmerica ? \" \" Please your Majesty,\" was the \nresponse in slow and measured tones, \" I crossed \nthe Atlantic in the last ship that sailed from \nBoston under the British flag before the Decla- \nration of Independence.\" \n\nLyndhurst's sister was Mrs. Gardiner Greene \nof Boston, and to the generosity of her husband \nhe owed his chance when a youth to make the \nsplendid place he ultimately did make for himself \nin England. For Copley's fortunes began to \ndecline about the time his son was ready to \npractise law, and he was obliged to ask Mr. \nGreene to help the young man out. This was \nabout 1804, and after the *' farm,\" to which \nCopley had always hoped some day to return, \nhad slipped irretrievably from his grasp. Cop- \nley's step-brother, Henry Pelham, had looked \nafter the property for him during the occupation \nof Boston by the British and, after the close of \nthe war and the restoration of peace, the big \nestate at the head of the Common began to \nbe really valuable. Especially did the waste \nland of the western slope of Beacon Hill become \nan object of much interest to the speculators \nof that day when it was whispered about that \n\n\nELKANAH WATSON. \n\nFrom a painting done in England by Copley. The stars and stripes on \nthe flag in the background were painted in immediately after George III \nhad declared the American colonies \" free and independent states.\" \n\nPage 209 \n\n\nirn \n\n\nl^ir..^ * \n\n\nV \n\n\nNORMAN'S MAP OF BOSTON IN 1806. \nPage 214 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 211 \n\nthe new state liouse would be located on the \nsummit of the hill, and near the Beacon monu- \nment. \n\nAt the eastern corner of Beacon and Walnut \nStreets lived Dr. Benjamin Joy, an old Boston \npractitioner and shrewd man of affairs, who \nnaturally enough heard of the state house project \nin advance of most people. Dr. Joy at once saw \nthe value of the Copley tract. \n\nFor obvious reasons he did not wish to appear \nas a would-be purchaser of the Copley acres \nwhich adjoined his own property. He therefore \nenlisted the services of Harrison Gray Otis, a \nlocal lawyer, then of much repute, and Jonathan \nMason, Jr., to secure the Copley estate, and \nwhatever additional acreage in the vicinity \ncould be obtained in their own names, as the \nMount Vernon proprietors. Dr. Joy, after the \nland had been bought, would take his share. \n\nIn some way General William Hull, then a \nsuccessful lawyer, was brought into the scheme, \nas was also, as an investor, James Swan, a \nBoston merchant, who resided abroad. It was \nthrough the instrumentality of General Hull \nthat Copley gave a bond for the deed and re- \nceived as part compensation for his property \nthe sum of one thousand pounds. \n\nLater on, when the deed reached London, \nCopley had heard, however, of the projected \nnew state house and he refused to sign the deed. \n\n\n212 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThe former Boston artist claimed that neither \nhe nor his agent, who at that time was Samuel \nCabot, one of the few residents of upper Beacon \nStreet, knew of the contemplated new state \nhouse when the bond was executed, otherwise \nhe would not have parted with his cherished \nBoston farm so readily. Legal complications \nfollowed, and Copley was forced to comply with \nthe provisions of the original contract and sign \naway forever all ownership in the property upon \nwhose future he had built so much. He sent \nhis son, John Singleton Copley, then a young \nman who had just taken his university degrees, \nto Boston with full power to act in all matters \nthat pertained to the affair in hand. On reach- \ning Boston the son wrote the following letter to \nhis father: \n\n\"Boston, Jan. 2, 1796, \n\n\" I have an opportunity of writing only one- \nhalf line by a vessel which sails almost imme- \ndiately, to inform you of my safe arrival in \nBoston at 4 o'clock this morning, after a tem- \npestuous passage of more than eight weeks. \nI am this instant going to Gen. Hull, whom I \nsaw this morning. He has written to you upon \nyour affairs at length. Scott has made affi- \ndavit that no such verbal transaction as you \nmentioned ever took place. \n\n\" The business cannot come on till May. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 213 \n\nIf you can make yourself a subject of the United \nStates you are clear. If otherwise, I am not \nyet sufficiently informed to say what may be the \nresult if you are decreed an alien ; but take cour- \nage. I cannot say more than wish my most \naffectionate regards to my dear mother and my \ntwo amiable sisters, and add that they would be \nagreeably disappointed at a view of Boston. \nYour Dutiful Son.\" \n\nThe young attorney, afterward famed in \nEngland as Baron Lyndhurst, lord high chan- \ncellor, found it no easy task to straighten out \nthe tangle into which the affairs of the Copley \nland investments had fallen, and to show the \nmeasure of success he reached in the adjust- \nment of all differences, extracts from his own \naccount should be quoted: \n\n\" I have, my dear sir,\" he writes to his father \nunder date of February 27, 1796, \" concluded \nmy negotiations with Messrs. Mason, Otis, etc, \netc : how you will be affected by the result, \nwhether it will give you dissatisfaction or pleas- \nure, I cannot determine. \n\n\" But had your ground been firmer still \nthere was no hope that the business would be \nsettled within the space of two years and a half. \nAfter much negotiation, and after various con- \nsultations with your counsel and with Mr. \nRogers, I acceded, in pursuance to their advice. \n\n\n214 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nto the following terms: That you should retain \nthe £1000 received from Hull and that 1 should \nreceive on your account an addition of 3000 \nguineas, deducting the amount of Phillips' \nmortgage. \n\n\" They also indemnify you against Hull, \nwhich will cost them, I understand, or rather \nI know, £2200 more. I do not believe that any \nperson could have obtained from them one \nshilling more.\"^ \n\nThus the dream of Copley's life after he left \nAmerica vanished. The \" farm \" on Boston \nCommon, to which he was so warmly attached, \nhad slipped from his grasp, and his last as- \npiration of returning to end his life in his \nnative land, among congenial scenes, of course \nmelted away with it. He died in London, \nSeptember 9, 1815, and was buried in the parish \nchurch of Croydon. In a niche of the wall \nabove the tomb where he rests is a bust taken \nfrom the portrait which Gilbert Stuart painted \nof him and which, according to the testimony \nof Lord Lyndhurst, was the best likeness ever \nmade of his father. \n\nBut the real memorial to Copley is to be found \nin his work, particularly in those exquisite \nportraits of fair New England women which, \nto this day, adorn the drawing-room walls of \nmany a stately American mansion. \n\n' [ Letters quoted from Mrs. Amory's book.] \n\n\nCHAPTER IX \n\nJOHN HANCOCK AND HIS DOROTHY \n\nMRS. MERCY WARREN, the favorite \nsister of James Otis, and a woman of \nkeen observation wrote, towards the \nend of her life a \" History of the Revolution \" \nwhich, if it failed to do full justice to John \nAdams and one or two others, certainly set \ndown with very nice discernment the political \ncharacter of John Hancock. Hancock had long: \nbeen a popular idol, and this cool analysis of \nhim served, very likely, to correct a too-biased \nimpression : \n\n\" Mr. Hancock was a young gentleman of \nfortune, of more external accomplishments than \nreal abilities. He was polite in manners, easy \nin address, affable, civil and liberal. With these \naccomplishments he was capricious, sanguine \nand implacable: naturally generous, he was \nprofuse in expense; he scattered largesses with- \nout discretion, and purchased favors by the \nwaste of wealth, until he reached the ultimatum \nof his wishes, which centred in the focus of \n\n\n216 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\npopular applause. He enlisted early in the \ncause of his country, at the instigation of some \ngentlemen of penetration, who thought his ample \nfortune might give consideration while his fickle- \nness could not injure, so long as he was under \nthe influence of men of superior judgment. \nThey complimented him by nominations to \ncommittees of importance, till he plunged too \nfar to recede; and flattered by ideas of his own \nconsequence, he had taken a decided part \nbefore the battle of Lexington, and was presi- \ndent of the provincial congress, when that \nevent took place.\" \n\nNow while this is probably as judicial a pro- \nnouncement upon John Hancock the politi- \ncian as could well be put into such brief space, \nthere is a sweet and generous side to Hancock, \nthe man at which Mrs. Warren does not even \nhint. It is that which I hope to bring out. For, \nafter all, life is more than politics. And Han- \ncock's real mettle was pretty severely tested, \nas it seems to me, when, on the eve of being \nwedded to the girl he loved, he was warned to \nflee for his life from a proscription which logic- \nally would have disposed of him at the end of a \nrope in England. \n\nFive days after the flight from Lexington, \nHancock sent to the Massachusetts Committee \nof Safety the following letter, which I reproduce \nby the kindness of the New England Magazine. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 217 \n\n\" Worcester, April 24, 1775 \nMonday evening \n\" Gentlemen: \n\n\" Mr. S. Adams and myself, just arrived here, \nfind no intelligence from you and no guard. \nWe just hear an express has passed through this \nplace to you from New York, informing that \nadministration is bent upon pushing matters; \nand that four regiments are expected there. \nHow are we to proceed ? Where are our breth- \nren? Surely, we ought to be supported. I had \nrather be with you; and, at present, am fully \ndetermined to be with you before I proceed. I \nbeg, by the return of this express to hear from \nyou, and pray, furnish us with depositions of \nthe conduct of the troops, the certainty of their \nfiring first, and every circumstance relative \nto the conduct of the troops from the 19th instant, \nto this time, that we may be able to give some \naccount of matters as we proceed, especially \nat Philadelphia, also I beg you would order \nyour secretary to make out an account of your \nproceedings since, what has taken place; what \nyour plan is ; what prisoners we have, and what \nthey have of ours; who of note was killed, on \nboth side; who commands our forces, &c. \n\n\" Are our men in good spirits ? For God's \nsake do not suffer the spirit to subside, until \nthey have perfected the reduction of our ene- \nmies. Boston must be entered ; the troops must \n\n\n218 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbe sent away. . . . Our friends are valuable, but \nour country must be saved. I have an interest \nin that town. What can be the enjoyment of \nthat town if I am obliged to hold it at the will of \nGen. Gage or any one else ? I doubt not your \nvigilance, your fortitude and resolution. Do \nlet us know how you proceed. We must have the \nCastle. . . . Stop up the harbor against large \nvessels coming. You know better what to do \nthan I can point out. Where is Mr. Gushing.? \nAre Mr. Paine and Mr. John Adams to be with \nus .'' What are we to depend upon ? We travel \nrather as deserters, which I will not submit to. \n. . . Pray remember Mr. S. Adams and myself \nto all friends. God be with you. I am gentle- \nmen, your faithful and hearty countryman \n\n\" John Hancock.\" \n\nIn addition to the many political anxieties \nreflected in this letter John Hancock had a lover's \nfears for the safety of his fiancee, Dorothy \nQuincy, whom we last saw threatening, in a fit \nof feminine perversity, that she Would go back \ninto Boston, on the morrow, and join her father \nwho was shut up there. This father, Edmund \nQuincy, is so interesting a person that we owe \nit to ourselves to digress for a bit in order to \ngive him and his family due consideration. \n\nHis ancestral home was in the town which \nnow bears his name, — but which was then \n\n\nDOROTHY QUIXCY HANCOCK. \n\nFrom the painting by Copley \nPage 219 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 219 \n\ncalled Braintvee, — and his grandfather was \nthe first Quincy to own the fine old roof-tree \nwhich we now know as the Dorothy Q. house. \nTo attend the funeral of Colonel Quincy, as \nthe first Edmund was always called. Judge \nSewall drove out from Boston in 1697-1698, \npicking up Madame Dudley on the way, who \n** seem'd to be glad of the Invitation and were \nmutually refreshed by our Company.\" Scarcely \ntwo years later Judge Sewall was obliged to go \nto Braintree for another funeral, this time that \nof the widow. He notes in his diary: '* Cousin \nEdmund Quinsey invited us; for I lodged there \nall night.\" This *' cousin \" Edmund it was who, \nby marriage with the lovely Dorothy Flynt, soon \nbrought into the annals of Braintree the first \n\" Dorothy Q.\" \n\nWhen this maiden went out from her home \nat Dorchester — she was the daughter of Rev. \nJosiah Flynt of that place — to assume the care \nof a household, she was a girl of only seventeen, \nw^liile her husband was scarcely three years \nolder. But the young man showed himself very \nproperly a Quincy, for early and rapidly he \ndistinguished himself in public affairs. As the \nRev. John Hancock, his pastor, later said of \nhim: \" This great man was of a manly Stature \nand Aspect, of a Strong Constitution, and of \ngood Courage, fitted for any Business of Life, to \nserve God, his King, and Country.\" \n\n\n220 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThis second Edmund Quincy it was who \nfashioned the old roof-tree into the house nearly \nas it stands to-day. The original building in \nall its lines is still to be discerned almost as \nplainly as if the newer edifice to which it is \njoined were transparent, for the old roof with its \nshingles is half a story beneath the later one, \nand the old windows and clapboards are clearly \ndistinguishable from those of the more recent \nextension. The union of the new building with \nthe old was done without any attempt to achieve \na result architecturally imposing, and thus it \ncomes about that the house has a full complement \nof haunted chambers, secret passages, and \nclosets. \n\nInto this pleasant home the Dorothy Q. of \nDr. Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem was born \nJanuary 4, 1709. She was the fourth child \nof Edmund and Dorothy Flynt Quincy, and \nconsiderably younger than the others. She \ndid not marry until the very late age, for a girl \nof that time, of twenty-nine. Meanwhile, the \nold house had become the property of her brother, \nEdmund, the father of Hancock's Dorothy. \n\nThis Edmund Quincy was graduated at \nHarvard in 1722, practised law and became \nJudge of Common Pleas. After his marriage \nto Elizabeth Wendell (April 15, 1725) they \nwent to live in Boston, and it was in their home \non the south side of Summer Street that Han- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON Dx\\YS & WAYS 221 \n\ncock's Dorothy was born, May 10, 1747. Yet \nwhen she was five years old she went back to \nlive in the old homestead at Quincy a part of \nevery year, and here it was that John Hancock \nfirst came to know her well. Tradition even \nsays that it was in honor of Dorothy's marriage \nto \" King \" Hancock that the large north parlor \nof the house was hung with the wall-paper \nwhich still adorns it, — a Paris design showing \nVenus and Cupid in blue with pendent wreaths \nof red flowers. In one panel Cupid appears to \nbe wooing the shy Venus; in the other she has \ndispatched him with an affirmative answer \nand he is speeding happily away amid very \nnatural-looking birds of paradise, disporting \nthemselves on the floral background. It seems \na pity that paper so eminently fitted to nuptial \nrites should not have graced the Hancock wed- \nding after all. \n\nBut for watchful Aunt Lydia Hancock, the \npatriot John would, very likely, never have \nenjoyed his bride, indeed. This lady was the \nwidow of the rich merchant, Thomas Hancock, \nwho, dying in Boston, had left the greater part \nof his wealth to his nephew and adopted son, \nJohn Hancock, whom he had adopted in 1744, \nwhen the boy's father, Rev. John Hancock of \nQuincy, died. Young Hancock was very fond \nof his Aunt Lydia, and she was bent upon giving \nhim the sweetheart of his choice. To this end \n\n\n222 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nshe often had Dorothy Quincy, whose mother \nwas dead, to stay with her at her splendid \nmansion opposite the Common. Thus it was \nthat Dorothy, whose own home as has been said \nwas on Summer Street, happened to be near \nenough Earl Percy's soldiers to be annoyed by \ntheir morning drill. \n\nThe first public office which I find record of \nhaving been held by John Hancock was that \nof selectman. He was chosen on that board \nat the town meeting of March, 1765, very likely \nbecause his late uncle had for many years oc- \ncupied the position. But that he was fast \ndeveloping patriotic feeling on his own account \nis shown by a letter sent to one of his London \ncorrespondents the following November, in \nwhich he says: \" I am invariably determined \nnot to carry on business under a stamp, nor \never subject myself to be a slave without my \nown Consent.\" When the Stamp Act was re- \npealed, the news was brought to Boston by \nJohn Hancock's vessel, and during the subse- \nquent celebration \" John Hancock Esq. gave \na grand and elegant entertainment to the genteel \npart of the town and treated the populace with \na pipe of ^ladeira wine. Erected at the front \nof his house, which was magnificently illumi- \nnated, was a stage for the exhibition of fire- \nworks, which was to answer those of the sons \nof liberty ! . . . Mr. Otis and some other gentle- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 223 \n\nmen who lived near the Common kept open house \nthe whole evening, which was very pleasant; \nthe multitude of gentlemen and ladies who were \ncontinually passing from one place to another \nadded much to the brilliancy of the night,\" \nrecords a newspaper of the period. \n\nAt the following election, Hancock was chosen \none of four representatives to the General \nCourt, the other three from Boston being James \nOtis, Thomas Cushing and Samuel Adams. \nCircumstances which, I doubt not \" the master \nof the puppets \" had his share in arranging, \nhad thrown Hancock and Adams much to- \ngether of late. Adams had great skill in bring- \ning to the front young men likely, for any reason, \nto be helpful to the Cause and Hancock, with his \nwealth and popularity, promised exceedingly well \nin that way. So they served together on various \ncommittees chosen to prepare letters and reso- \nlutions of importance. \" If Adams wrote the \nletters, Hancock furnished the quills,\" says \nA. E. Brown, who has written an excellent Life \nof the younger man. This epigram besides \nbeing very striking is almost literally true. For \nwhat one man lacked the other supplied, the \ncombination being sufficiently effective to induce \nthe American Revolution and give George III \nmany a bad quarter-hour. \n\nFrom one point of view Hancock is more \ndeserving of praise than any other Bostonian \n\n\n224 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwho ranged himself on the side of the people \nas against the king. He was very rich, and since \nwar presented to him the possibility of being \nstripped utterly of his possessions, he had every- \nthing to lose and nothing to gain by it. But he \nelected to work with the defenders of liberty \nand, when his commission as Colonel of the \nCadets was revoked by Gage soon after that \npersonage had landed in Boston, he merely \nsaid: \" I shall always prefer retirement in a \nprivate station to being a tool in the hand of \npower to impress my countrymen.\" He con- \ntinued his service in the General Court even \nafter that body had been dissolved by Gage, \nand when he was appointed one of the delegates \nto the Continental Congress at Philadelphia \nhe hesitated not a moment to accept the trust, \nthough he quite understood that his goods as \nwell as his life would be endangered thereby. \n\nOf the Provincial Congress which met in \nOctober (1774) at Concord and then later at \nCambridge, Hancock was president, and in that \ncapacity became particularly responsible for \nthe first Thanksgiving proclamation in which \nthe \" king \" was not recognized. \n\n^Vhen the second Provincial Congress opened \nat Cambridge, on February 1, 1775, John Han- \ncock, representing Boston, was again unanimously \nelected president. He was further made one of \na committee to consider and report \" the state \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 225 \n\nand circumstances of the Province;\" on the \nfourth day of the session he put a motion \" that \nthe secretary be directed to write Colonel Rober- \nson, desiring him to deliver the four brass field \npieces, and the two brass mortars now in his \nhands, the property of the Province, to the \norder of the Committee of Safety.\" It is not \nhard to see what thoughts were finding lodg- \nment in his brain! During this session of the \nProvincial Congress it was, too, that John \nHancock and his associates, chosen by the \nformer Congress as delegates to the Conti- \nnental Congress \" were authorized and em- \npowered, with the delegates from the other \nAmerican Colonies, to adjourn from time to \ntime and place to place, as they shall judge \nnecessary, and to continue as delegates until \nthe end of the year.\" \n\nFor its second session of 1775 the Provincial \nCongress was back at Concord, assembling \nin the old Parish Meeting-House which still \nstands, and to-day looks very much outwardly as \nit did then. Knowing the condition of affairs \nin Boston, Hancock did not return to his home \nduring the intermissions of the session, finding \nit more convenient to stay in Concord and go \ndown for Sundays and week-ends to the Lex- \nington parsonage where he and his associate \nAdams were made very welcome by his cousins, \nRev. and Mrs. Jonas Clark. Here, quite natu- \n\n\n226 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nrally, towards the middle of April Mrs. Lydia \nHancock and her young friend, Miss Quincy, \ncame for a visit. And thus it was that Paul \nRevere broke up a very happy family circle \nwhen he rode out from Boston, on the eve of \nthe skirmish at Lexington, with his alarming \nmessage. \n\nHow Hancock and his companion escaped we \nhave already seen. As for his fiancee and his \naunt, the course of their retreat, after leaving \nWoburn — whither it will be remembered they \nbore a fine salmon for a bountiful dinner that \nwas never eaten — may be gathered from a \nletter written at Lancaster, May 11, 1775, by \nEdmund Quincy, the father of the vivacious \nDolly, to his son, the girl's brother: \" I was from \nnoon Sat'y till Friday eve'g getting up hither \nwith much difficulty by reason of scarcity of \ncarriages. Cost me near £20, besides quarter- \ning on some of my good friends who were very \nkind and generous. Y'r sister Dolly with Mrs. \nHancock came from Shirley to y'r Bro. Gren- \nleef's & dined & proceeded to Worcester, where \nCol H. & Mr. A were on their way. This was \n10 days before I got hither, so that I missed \nseeing them. As I hear she proceeded with Mr. \nH. to Fayerfield I don't expect to see her till \npeaceable times are restored.\" \n\nThe home in Fairfield, Connecticut, where \nthe ladies now took up their abode, was that of \n\n\n^■''^-^fK^N^'^ :l- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 227 \n\nThaddeus Burr, and thither Hancock, who was \npushing on towards Philadelphia, promptly \nsent this letter (quoted in Salisbury's \" Family \nMemorials \") : \n\n\" New York, Sabbath Even'g, May 7, 1775 \n\"My dear Dolly: — I Arriv'd well, tho' \nFatigued, at King's Bridge at Fifty Minutes \nafter Two o'clock yesterday, where I found \nthe Delegates of Massachusetts and Connec', \nwith a Number of Gentlemen from New York, \nand a Guard of the Troop. I Din'd and then \nset out in Procession for New York, the Carriage \nof your humble servant of course being first \nin the Procession, When we Arriv'd within \nthree miles of the City we were Met by the \nGrenadier Company and Regiment of the City \nMilitia under Arms, Gentlemen in Carriages \nand on Horseback, and many Thousand of \nPersons on Foot, the Roads fill'd with people, \nand the Greatest Cloud of Dust I ever saw. \nIn this Scituation we entered the City, and pass- \ning thro' the Principal Streets of New York \namidst the Acclamations of Thousands were \nset Down at Mr. Francis's. After Entering the \nHouse three Huzzas were Given, and the People \nby Degrees Dispers'd. \n\n\" Wlien I got within a mile of the City my \nCarriage was stopt, and some Persons appearing \nwith proper harnesses insisted upon Taking out \n\n\n228 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmy Horses and Dragging me into and through \nthe City, a Circumstance I would not have had \nTaken place upon any consideration, not being \nfond of such Parade. \n\n'* I Beg'd and Intreated that they would Sus- \npend the Design, and ask'd it as a favour, and \nthe Matter Subsided, but when I got to the \nEntrance of the City, and the Numbers of \nSpectators increas'd to perhaps Seven Thou- \nsand or more, they Declar'd they would have \nthe Horses out and would Drag me themselves \nthro' the City. I Repeated my Request, and \nI was oblig'd to apply to the Leading Gentle- \nmen in the procession to intercede with them \nnot to Carry their Designs into Execution; \nas it was very disagreeable to me. They were \nat last prevailed upon and I proceeded. I was \nmuch oblig'd to them for their good wishes and \nOpinion, in short no Person could possibly be \nmore notic'd than myself. \n\n\" After having Rode so fast and so many \nMiles you may well think I was much Fatig'd, \nbut no sooner had I got into the Room of the \nHouse we were Visited by a great number of \nGentlemen of the first Character in the city, \nwho Took up the Evening. \n\n\" About 10 o'clock I Sat down to Supper of \nFried Oysters, &c at 11 o'clock went to Capt. \nSears's (the King Inn) and Lodg'd. Arose at \n5 o'clock, went to the House first mention'd, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 229 \n\nBreakfasted, Dress'd and went to Meeting, \nwhere I heard a most excellent Sermon by Mr. \nLivingston. Return'd to the same House, a \nmost Elegant Dinner provided. \n\n\" Went to Meeting, heard Dr. Rogers, a fine \npreacher. Tomorrow Morning propose to Cross \nthe Ferry. We are to have a large Guard in \nseveral Boats and a Number of the City Gentle- \nmen will attend us over. I can't think they will \nDare attack us. \n\n\" The Grenadier Company of the City is to \nContinue under Arms during our stay here, and \nwe have a Guard of them Night and Day at \nour Doors. . . . This is a sad mortification \nfor the Tories, things look well here. [Tlie \ntravelling company now consisted of Samuel \nAdams, John x\\dams, Thomas Cushing, Robert \nTreat Paine, Roger Sherman and Silas Deane, \nbesides the writer of the letter.] \n\n\" I Beg you will write me; do acquaint me \nevery Circumstance Relative to that Dear Aunt \nof Mine; WTite Lengthy and often. Mr. Nath. \nBarrett and Mr, Buck are here. People move \nslowly out, they tell me, from Boston. My best \nRespects to Mr. & Mrs. Burr. My poor Face \nand Eyes are in a most shocking scituation, \nburnt up and much swell'd and a little painfull. \nI don't know how to manage with it. \n\n\" Is your Father out ? As soon as you know, \ndo acquaint me, and send me the Letters, and \n\n\n230 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nI will write him. Pray let me hear from you by \nevery Post, God Bless you my Dr Girl, and \nbelieve me most Sincerely \n\n\" Yours most Affectionately \n\n\" John Hancock. \n\nBut Dolly did not write to John by every \nPost, for just then there came to Fairfield, to \nvisit his aunt and uncle, Aaron Burr, a gallant \nand handsome young man of twenty-nine, \nhaving a way with him that no woman was ever \nable to resist. So fascinating, indeed, did he \nmake himself to Dolly that, but for watchful \nAunt Lydia, the cherished plans of the Hancock \nfamily would very likely have been brought to \nnought. That the absent lover keenly felt \nher failure to write \" lengthy and often \" and, \namid the cares of state, found time to be a very \nnormal man and to fret himself a good deal \nthat his desire to hear from his sweetheart was \nnot met we see from the following [from the \nNew England Magazine]: \n\n\" Philad'a 10th June, 1775 \n\n\"My dr. Dolly: — I am almost prevail'd \non to think that my letters to my Aunt & you \nare not read, for I cannot obtain a reply, I have \nask'd million questions & not an answer to one, \nI beg'd you to let me know what things my \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 231 \n\nAunt wanted & you, and many other matters \nI wanted to know, but not one word in answer. \nI Really Take it extreme unkind, pray my Dr. \nuse not so much Ceremony & Reservedness, \nwhy can't you use freedom in writing, be not \nafraid of me, I want long Letters. I am glad \nthe little things I sent you were agreeable. Why \ndid you not write me of the top of the Umbrealla. \nI am so sorry it was spoiled, but I will send you \nanother by my Express wch will go in a few \ndays. How did my Aunt like her gown, & do \nlet me know if the Stockings suited her; she had \nbetter send a pattern shoe and stocking, I war- \nrant I will suit her. The Inclosed letter for \nyour Father you will read, & seal and forward \nhim, you will observe I mention in it your \nwriting your Sister Katy about a few^necessaries \nfor Katy Sewall, what you think Right let her \nhave & Roy James, & this only between you \nand I; do write your Father I should be glad \nto hear from him, & I beg, my Dear Dolly, \nyou will write me often & long Letters, I will \nforgive the past if you will mend in the future. \nDo ask my Aunt to make me up & send me a \nWatch String, & do you make me up another \n& send me, I wear them out fast. I want some \nlittle thing of your doing. \n\n*' Remember me to all Friends with you as \nif nam'd. I am call'd upon & must obey. \n\n\" I have sent you by Doer Church in a paper \n\n\n232 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nBox Directed to you, the following things, for \nyour acceptance & which I do insist you wear, \nif you do not, I shall think the Donor is the ob- \njection: \n\n2 pair white silk 1 stockings which \n\n4 pair white thread j I think will fit you \n\n1 pr Black Satin ) shoes, the other \n\nIpr Black Caleni Co. ( Shall be sent when done \n\n1 very pretty light Hat \n\n1 neat Airy Summer Cloak (I ask Doer. Church) \n\n2 caps \n1 Fann \n\n\" I wish these may please you, I shall be \ngratified if they do, pray write me, I will attend \nto all your Commands. \n\n\" Adieu my Dr Girl, and believe me with \ngreat Esteem & Affection \n\n*' Yours without Reserve \n\n\" John Hancock. \n\n** Remember me to Katy Brackett.\" \n\nThanks to the chaperonage of Mrs. Hancock \nthe wedding came duly off, in spite of Aaron \nBurr, not long after this. The date of the mar- \nriage was August 28, 1775, and the New York \nGazette honored it with the following florid notice \nin its issue of September 4: \" This evening was \nmarried at the seat of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 233 \n\nat Fairfield, Connecticut, by the Reverend Mr. \nElliot the Hon, John Hancock Esq, President \nof the Continental Congress, to Miss Dorothy \nQuincy, daughter of Edmund Quincy Esq., of \nBoston. Florus informs us that ' in the second \nPunic war, when Hannibal besieged Rome and \nw^as very near making himself master of it, \na field upon which part of his army lay, was \noffered for sale, and was immediately purchased \nby a Roman, in a strong assurance that the \nRoman valor and courage would soon raise the \nsiege.' Equal to the conduct of that illustrious \ncitizen was the marriage of the Honorable John \nHancock Esq., who, with his amiable lady has \npaid as great a compliment to American valor, \nand discovered equal patriotism, by marrying \nnow while all the colonies are as much convulsed \nas Rome when Hannibal was at her gates.\" \n\nJohn Hancock very well knew, however, that \nhe must marry his Dolly before she would be \nreally his. Once married she settled down into \na devoted wife. For a time she and her husband \nwere at a boarding-house in Philadelphia with \nothers from Massachusetts. John Adams, wri- \nting November 4, 1775, to his own dear wife says : \n\" Two pair of colors belonging to the Seventh \nRegiment, were brought here last night from \nChambly, and hung up in Mrs. Hancock's \nchamber with great splendor and elegance. \nThat lady sends her compliments and good \n\n\n234 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwishes. Among a hundred men, almost, at \nthis house, she lives and behaves with modest \ndecency, dignity and discretion, I assure you. \nHer behavior is easy and genteel. She avoids \ntalking upon politics. In large and mixed \ncompanies she is totally silent, as a lady ought \nto be[!]. But whether her eyes are so penetra- \nting, and her attention so quick to the words, \nlooks gestures sentiments &c of the company as \nyours would be, saucy as you are in this way, I \nwon't say.\" \n\nSoon, however, the Hancocks took a house \nand over it the young wife presided with great \ngrace and charm. In a letter sent by Hancock \nto General Washington, early in May, 1776, — \njust after the Commander-in-Chief had been \ncalled to Philadelphia, by Congress, in order \nto advise that body concerning its future move- \nments, — we catch a glimpse of this, their \nfirst home: \n\n\" I reside in an airy open part of the city, in \nArch street and Fourth street. Your favor of \nthe 20th inst. I received this morning and cannot \nhelp expressing the great pleasure it would afford \nMrs. Hancock and myself to have the happiness \nof accommodating you during your stay in this \ncity. As the house I live in is large and roomy, \nit will be entirely in Your power to live in that \nmanner you should wish, Mrs. Washington \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 235 \n\nwill be as retired as she pleases, while under \ninoculation, and Mrs. Hancock will esteem it \nan honour to have Mrs. Washington inoculated \nin her house ; and as I am informed Mr. Ran- \ndolph has not any lady about his house to take \nthe necessary care of ^Nlrs. Washington, I flatter \nmyself she will be as well attended in my family. \n\n\" In short, sir, I must take the freedom to \nrepeat my wish, that You will be pleased to con- \ndescend to dwell under my roof. I assure you, \nsir, I will do all in my power to render your \nstay agreeable, and my house shall be entirely \nat your disposal. I must, however, submit \nthis to your determination and only add that \nyou will peculiarly gratify Mrs. H. and myself, \nin affording me an opportunity of convincing you \nof this truth, that I am, with every sentiment \nof regard for you, and your connections, and \nvnlh much esteem, dear sir, \n\n\" Your faithful and most obedient humble \nservant. \" John Hancock.\" \n\nBecause of its admirable spirit of cordiality, \nas well as because it tells us what kind of \nhouse he lived in, we are glad of this letter, \nreproduced by A. E. Brown in *' John Han- \ncock, His Book.\" For when John Adams, in \nJune, 1775, nominated Washington to be com- \nmander-in-chief, \" mortification and resent- \nment \" were to be observed on the face of Han- \n\n\n236 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncock, if one can trust the reportorial powers of \nAdams. Yet if Hancock did, perchance, feel \nsome degree of pique at not being himself \nslated for the first place in the army, he let no \nhint of this get into his correspondence; one \nmight search long before finding a more ob- \nviously sincere sentence than this in a letter \nwhich he sent to Washington July 10, 1775: \n\" I must beg the favor that you will reserve some \nberth for me, in such department as you may \njudge most proper; for I am determined to act \nunder you, if it be to take a firelock and join \nthe ranks as volunteer! \" Hancock was slow \nto find out that he could serve the Cause more \neffectively in council than in camp. \n\nAs the year drew to a close, it was necessary \nthat the Continental Congress, for greater \nsafety, change their place of meeting from \nPhiladelphia to Baltimore. So the members \ngathered up their papers and their families and \nmoved further south. Mrs. Hancock especially \nneeded quiet, just then, for a little daughter, — \nnamed Lydia Henchman after the devoted aunt, \n— came about this time into the Hancock \nfamily. When Hancock returned to Phila- \ndelphia with the Congress the mother and child \nwere left behind at the home of Mr. Samuel \nPurviance in Baltimore. To this fact is due \nthe following interesting letter long in the pos- \nsession of the late Mrs. William Wales: \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 237 \n\n\" Philadelphia 10th March 1777 \n\" My dear dear Dolly: My Detention at \nthe Ferry & and the badness of the Roads \nprevented my arriving here untill Friday Eve- \nning. \n\n\" I put my things into Mr. Williams' house, \nand went in pursuit of Lodgings. Neither Mrs. \nYard nor Lucy could accommodate me. I then \nwent to Smith's and borrowed two Blankets & \nreturned to my own house; soon after which \nMrs. Smith sent me up a very handsome supper, \nwith a Table cloth. Knives & forks, plates salt, \na print of Butter, Tea double refined Sugar, \na Bowl of Cream, a Loaf of Bread &c &c here \nI have remain'd and shall do so waiting your \narrival. Indeed Mrs. Smith oblig'd me much. \nI however lead a doleful lonesome life. Tho on \nSaturday I dined at Dr. Shippins'. He desires \nhis Regds. he is as lonesome as I. On Saturday \nI sat down to dinner at the little table with Folger \non a piece of Roast Beef with Potatoes. We \ndrank your health with all our Baltimore friends. \nLast night Miss Lucy came to see me, & this \nmorning while I was at Breakfast on Tea with a \npewter tea-spoon, Mrs. Hard came in. She \ncould not stay to Breakfast with me. I spend \nmy evenings at home, snuff my candles with a \npair of scissors, which Lucy seeing, sent me \na pair of snuffers, & dipping the gravy out of \nthe Dish with my pewter tea spoon, she sent \n\n\n238 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nme a large silver spoon and two silver tea spoons \n— that I am now quite rich. \n\n\" I shall make out as well as I can, but I \nassure you, my Dear Soul I long to have you \nhere & I know you will be as expeditious as \nyou can. When I part from you again it must be \na very extraordinary occasion. I have sent \neverywhere to get a gold or silver rattle for the \nchild with a coral to send but cannot get one. \nI will have one if possible on yr coming. I have \nsent a sash for her & two little papers of pins for \nyou. If you do not want them you can give them \naway. \n\n\" However unsettled things may be I could \nnot help sending for you as I cannot live in this \nway. We have an abundance of lies. The cur- \nrent report is that General Howe is bent on \ncoming here, another report is that the Mercht's \nat New York are packing their goods & putting \nthem on board ships & that the troops are going \naway, neither of which do I believe. We must, \nhowever, take our chances, this you may de- \npend on, that you will be ever the object of my \nutmost care & attention. \n\n\" I have been exceedingly busy, since I have \nbeen here, tho' have not yet made a Congress, \nare waiting for the South Carolina gentleman. \nIf Capt. Hammond is arrived with any things \nfrom Boston, You will have them put in the \nWaggons & brought here. If she should not \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 239 \n\nbe arriv'd leave the Receipt with Mr. S. Pur- \nviance & desire him to receive the things and \nsend them to me. The inclosed Letter give to \nMr. Newhouse, one of the Waggoners, Send for \nhim & let him know when you will be ready. \nI hope you will be able to pack up all your things \nquickly & have them on the way & that you will \nsoon follow, be careful in packing and do not \nleave anything behind. Let Harry see that every- \nthing is safely stored in the waggons. I send \niNIr. McClosky, he will be very useful. I am \nconfident Mr. & Mrs. Hilligas will assist you, \npray my best Regds. to them. I have not had \na moment's time to go to their house but intend \nit today & shall write Mr. Hilligas by the Post. \nYoung Mr. Hilligas got here on Saturday, he is \nwell, he delivered me your letter & one from his \nfather. I was exceeding glad to hear from you \nand hope soon to receive another Letter. I \nknow you will set off as soon as You can. en- \ndeavor to make good stages. You may easily \nlodge at Mr. Steles' at Bush the first night. It \nis a good house. However I must leave those \nmatters to you as the Road must in great meas- \nure determine your Stages. I do not imagine \nthere is any danger of the small-pox on the Road. \nWilmington is the most dangerous, but perhaps \nyou can order your stage so as not to lodge at \nWilmington, but go on to Chester. I want to \nget somebody cleaver to accompany you. I hope \n\n\n240 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nto send one to you, but if I should not be able, \nyou must make out as well as you can. \n\n\" 11 March \n\" I will write you by the Post tomorrow. I \ncan't add as I am now call'd on. Take good \ncare of Lydia. I hope no accident will happen. \nInclosed you have a few memo, as to pack'g &c \nwhich I submit to your perusal. \n\n\" My best regds. to Mr & Mrs. Purviance \nCapt Nicholson & Lady, Mr. Luce & family \n& indeed all friends. My love to Miss Katy, \ntell her to Ransack the house & leave nothing \nbehind. The Waggoners will attend you at all \ntimes. Remember me to all in the family. May \nevery blessing of an Indulgent providence attend \nyou. I most sincerely wish you a good journey \n& hope I shall soon, very soon, have the happi- \nness of seeing you with the utmost affection \nand Love. My Dear Dolly, \n\n\" I am yours forever \n\n\" John Hancock. \n\n\" Doctor Bond call'd on me, Desir'd his com- \npliments. He will inoculate the child as soon \nas it comes. \n\n\" Mrs. Washington got here on Saturday. \nI went to see her. She told me she Drank tea \nwith you. \n\n*' Let Harry take the Continental Horse, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 241 \n\nSaddle & Bridle, that I left at Mr. Purviance's \n& tell Mr. Purviance to charge his keeping in \nhis public credit. If Capt Hardy returns the \nHorse I lent him with the Saddle & Bridle he \nmust also come. Get the heavy waggon off \nas soon as you can, that they may be here as \nearly as possible as we shall much want the \nthings after you get here. I have got your bundle \nsafe with the Petticoat, Table Cloth, I have \nnot sent it as I thought you would not want it.\" \n\nThe day following Hancock, in his solicitude, \nwrote again. This letter was published, a few \nyears ago, in the New England Magazine: \n\n\" Philadelphia, 11 March 1777 \n\"■ 9 o'clock Evening \n\" My dearest Dolly: No Congress to- \nday, and I have been as busily employ'd as \nyou can conceive; quite lonesome & in a do- \nmestick situation that ought to be relieved as \nspeedily as possible, this Relief depends upon \nyou, and the greater Dispatch you make & the \nSooner you arrive here, the more speedy will be \nmy relief. I dispatched Harry, McClosky and \nDennis this morning with Horses & a Waggon \nas winged Messengers to bring you along. God \ngrant you a speedy and safe Journey to me. Mr. \nPluckrose the Bearer of this going for Mrs. \nMorris, I have engaged him to proceed on to \n\n\n242 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nBaltimore to deliver you this; I wrote you this \nmorning to bring all the things that came from \nBoston to this place but should they be landed \nbefore you leave Baltimore, I could wish you \nwould present One Quintal of the Salt Fish & \nthree or four Loaves of the Sugar to Mr. Sam'l. \nPurviance, or in case they should not be landed, \nleave directions to have those articles taken out \nand presented to Mr. P with our Compliments. \nI forget what other things there are but if you \nchoose to make presents of any of them, I pray \nyou to do it. If in the prosecution of your \nJourney you can avoid lodging at the head of \nElk, I wish you would, it is not so good as the \nother houses, but this must depend on Circum- \nstances; I wish you to make yr journey as \nagreeable as possible. Should any Gentlemen \n& Ladies accompany you out of Town do send \nMcClosky forward to order a handsome Dinner \nand I beg you to pay every Expence, order Mc- \nClosky to direct the Landlord not to Receive \na single farthing from any one but by your \nDirection & order a genteel Dinner; plenty — \n\" If Mr. Thomson cannot be ready with his \nWaggons as soon as you are, do not wait, but \npart of the Guard with an Officer must attend \nyours, & part be left to guard his, I only wish \nto have you here, and if you cannot readily \nattend to the Return of the things borrowed of \nMr. Dugan, leave them in the Care of some trusty \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 243 \n\nperson to deliver them and pay him for his \ntrouble. Am I not to have another letter from \nyou ? Surely I must. I shall send off Mr. Rush \na Tailor to-morrow or next day to meet you. \nI wish I could do better for you but we must \nRuff it; I am so harassed with applications, & \nhave been sending off Expresses to Call all the \nMembers here, that I have as much as I can \nTurn my hands to; I don't get down to dinner. \nCatch a Bit, I write, & then at it again [the \nwriting is here illegible] ... if it promotes \nthe cause I am happy, do beg Mr. Hillegas to \nsend some money by my Waggons, or I shall \nbe worn out with applications, pray him to Take \npity on me, I have lent my own stock already to \nstop some mouths. \n\n\" My respects to Mr. & Mrs. Hillegas, they \nmust excuse my not writing now, I have not \nseen their son since he deliver'd me your Letter, \nI asked him to Call, but I suppose he is so en- \ngaged with his Connection he has not had time, \n1 could wish to have it in my Power to do him \nany Service for the great regard I bear to his \nworthy Parents, I assure you I really love them, \nI wish they were Coming with you, I could then \nhave a Family where I could with pleasure go, & \nask them a hundred Questions, & take a thou- \nsand Liberties with them, that I cannot do in \nany Family now here, I shall Regret their \nabsence, but I am Determin'd to make a point \n\n\n244 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof having them up, for I cannot attend to the \napplications that are made to me in conse- \nquence of the Treasurer's absence; he must \ncome, I shall come if I have any influence. \n\n\" Lucy & Nancy call'd on me, I was busy \nover papers, we drank a glass together to our \nBaltimore Friends, I waited on them home, & \nreturn'd to my Cottage; Jo comes in with a \nplate of minc'd Veal, that I must stop, I shall \ntake the plate in one hand, the knife in the other, \nwithout cloath, or any Comfort, & Eat a little \n& then to writing, for I have not room on the \nTable to put a plate, I am up to the eyes in \npapers. Adieu for the present. \n\n\" The Inclosed Letter Lucy just sent me for \nyou. — Supper is over, no Relish, nor shall I \nhave till I have you here, & I wish Mr. & Mrs. \nHilligas to join us at Supper on Tuesday Eveng \nwhen I shall expect you. I shall have Fires \nmade & everything ready for your Reception, \ntho' I don't mean to hurry you beyond measure, \ndo as you like, don't fatigue yourself in Travel- \nling too fast. I keep Josh on trial, he promises \nReformation, he knows fully his fate. My best \nRegards to Mr. & Mrs. Purviance, to Mr. Lay \n& Family, Capt Nicholson & wife, INIr. Stewart \n& wife & all Friends. Tell Mr. Purviance & \nCapt. Nicholson I shall write them fully in a day \nor two and Determine all matters to their satis- \nfaction, I am so worried that I cannot even steal \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 245 \n\ntime to write them now. Tell IVIr. Purviance I \nRec'd his Letter by Post and will forward the \nLetters he Inclosed me to Boston & Newbury \nto-morrow. Pray let Dr. Wisenhall know that \nI Re'd his Letter, & am much obliged for his \nattention to the Child & that I will do everything \nin my power for the Gentleman who he mentions \nin his Letter, you will Recompense him for \ncalling to see the Child. \n\n\" Remember me to all the Family. If Nancy \ninclines to come in the Waggon and you like \nit she may Come, do as you like in every in- \nstance my love to Miss Katy, tell her if anything \nis left behind, I shall have at her, for she Ran- \nsack'd when we left Philadelphia & she must \ndo the same now — \n\n\" The Opinion of some seems to be that the \nTroops will leave New York, where bound none \nyet know; one thing I know that they can't \nat present come here, perhaps they are going \nto Boston or up North River. Time wil dis- \ncover. Never fear, we shall get the day finally \nwith the smiles of heaven. \n\n\" Do Take precious Care of our dear little \nLydia. \n\n*' Adieu. I long to see You; Take Care of \nYourself; I am, \n\n\" my Dear Girl \n\n\" Yours most affectionately \n\n\" John Hancock \" \n\n\n246 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\n\" Do let Harry Buy & bring 1 or 2 Busliells of \nParsnips. Bring all the wine, none to be got \nhere.\" \n\nAll his life John Hancock had struggles with \na tendency to that form of rheumatism which, \nwhen a man gets old, is called gout. The climate \nof Philadelphia did not in the least agree with \nhim and, in the summer, he found it very nearly \nunbearable. During the hot weather he lacked, \nalso, the comfort of a well-kept home, for Mrs. \nHancock was away on a visit. In the following \nmissive, which he sent to her addressed \" Mrs. \nHancock at Worcester or Boston \" (and which \nwas published in 1858 in the New England His- \ntorical Register), it is plain that he has made up \nhis mind that his health will not permit him to \ncontinue to serve his country as President of l! c \nCongress at Philadelphia. \n\n\" York Town October 18th 1777 \n\" My dear Dolly \n\n*' I am now at this Date & not a line from you. \nNot a single word have I heard from you since \nyour letter by Dodd, immediately upon your \narrival at Worcester, which you may judge \naffects me not a little, but I must submit & \nwill only say that I expected oftener to have \nbeen the object of your attention. \n\n\" This is my sixth Letter to you. The former \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 247 \n\nones I hope you have Rec'd, by the Completion \nof those Letters you will I dare say be appre- \nhensive that my stay here was nearly Deter- \nmined for the winter & that I had thoughts of \nsoliciting your Return to me. My thoughts on \nthat subject were for a season serious, but va- \nrious reasons have occurred to induce me to \nalter my Resolutions, and I am now to inform \nyou that I have come to a fixed Determination \nto Return to Boston for a short time & I have \nnotified Congress in form of my Intentions. \nYou will therefore please immediately on Re- \nceipt of this tell Mr. Sprigs to prepare the \nLight Carriage & Four Horses & himself to \nbe ready to proceed on to Hartford or Fairfield, \nas I shall hereafter direct to meet me on the \nRoad. If my old Black Horses are not able to \nperform the journey he must hire two. The \nparticular Time of my setting out & when (I \nwould have Sprigs come forward) you shall \nknow by Dodd, the Express who I shall Dis- \npatch tomorrow morning. My present Inten- \ntion is to leave Congress in eight days, but more \nparticulars in my next. I shall hope & must \nDesire that you will take a Seat in the carriage \n& meet me on the Road, which will much ad- \nvance your health, & you may be assured will \nbe highly satisfactory to me, & I have desired \nMr. Bant to accompany you in the carriage & \nwhen we meet he can take my sulkey and I re- \n\n\n248 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nturn with you in the carriage to town. Mr Bant \nmust hire or borrow a Servant to attend you \non Horse back as Harry & Ned are both with \nme & Joe is not suitable. My dear I hope your \nhealth will admit of your coming with Mr Bant. \nI long to see you. I shall close all my Business \nin three Days & indeed have already nearly \nfinished, & when once I set out shall travel \nwith great speed. Nothing shall prevent my \nseeing you soon with the leave of providence; \nbut a prevention of passing the North River \nI shall push hard to get over, even if I go as far \nas Albany. I need not tell you there will be \nno occasion of you writing me after the receipt \nof this. My best wishes attend you for every \ngood. I have much to say, which I leave to a \nCheerful Evening with you in person. \n\" God Bless you my Dear Dolly \n\"I am \n\n\" Yours most affectionately \n\n\" John Hancock.\" \n\nThe next letter, treasured for many years by \nMrs. Wales, shows him on his way. \n\n\" Dover (within 60 miles of Hartford) \n\" Saturday 1 of Clock \n\" 8 Nov. 1777 \n\" My Dear: I am thus far on my journey to \nmeet you, thank Luck for it. I have gone thro' \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 249 \n\nmany Difficulties on the Road, but that I shall \nnot mind. The Remembrance of these Diffi- \nculties will vanish when I have the happiness \nof seeing You. I am still obliged to have my \nfoot wrapped up in Baize, but I brave all these \nthings. I hire this person to carry You this \nletter in Confidence it will meet You at Hart- \nford. I shall get along as fast as I can, but \nhaving a party of Light horse with me and a \nwaggon I do not travel so fast as I otherwise \nshould. What if you should on Monday morn- \ning set out to meet me, on the Litchfield Road \n& then if I am not able to reach Hartford that \nday, I shall have the satisfaction of seeing You \non the Road. If you think the ride will be too \nmuch I would not have you undertake it, but \nI hope You will not ride many miles before we \nshall meet, as I trust Mr. Bant is with you. my \nRegd's to him, my best wishes attend him. \nRemember me to Mrs. Collier for I suppose you \nare there. I am sorry I cannot take Fairfield \nin my way but I crossed so high up it was not \npossible. I have much to say, but refer all to \nthe happy time when I shall be with you. God \nbless you — my dear girl, and believe me with \nsincere affection \" Yours forever, \n\n\" John Hancock.\" \n\n\" Mrs. McDagle this moment comes into the \nTavern & is going to dine with us.\" \n\n\n250 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThat his well-loved lady gladdened his heart \nby falling in very agreeably with his plans we \nnow know, for a Hartford paper gives us this \nglimpse of the pair in its issue of November 19: \n\" On Friday last passed through this town \nescorted by a party of light dragoons, the Hon, \nJohn Hancock, President of the American \nCongress, with his lady, on his way to Boston, \nafter an absence, on public business, of more than \ntwo and a half years.\" \n\nThe Pennsylvania Ledger of January 7, 1778, \nhas the following notice : \" This day arrived at \nBoston, in Massachusetts, under an escort of \nAmerican light dragoons, the Honorable John \nHancock, Esq., President of the American \nCongress, and first major-general of the militia \nof that state. By his coming in to town sooner \nthan was expected, he avoided some public \nmarks of respect which would otherwise have \nbeen paid him; his arrival was made known \nby ringing the bells, the discharge of thirteen \ncannon of Colonel Craft's park of artillery on \nthe common, the cannon on the fortress on \nFort Hill, and the shipping in the harl)or. The \nindependent and light infantry companies paid \nhim their military salutes. He received the \ncompliments of gentlemen of all orders; and \nevery indication was given of the sense the public \nhas of hi§ important services to the American \ncause.\" \n\n\nCHAPTER X \n\nTHE MAN OF THE TOWN MEETING \n\nWHAT of Samuel Adams all this while ? \nHe, also, it will be remembered, was a \ndelegate to the Continental Congress \nand had been named with Hancock in General \nGage's proclamation of June 12, 1775, offering \npardon in the king's name, to all, — save two, \n— \" who shall forthwith lay down their arms and \nreturn to the duties of peaceable subjects.\" To \nAdams, particularly, applied, of course, the \nfurther clause in that proclamation which char- \nacterized the offences of the proscribed patriots \nas of \" too flagitious a Nature to admit of other \nConsideration than that of condign Punish- \nment.\" \n\nAt this time as ever Adams was woefully \npoor. While he \" superintended the birth of \nthe child Independence,\" there were often no \nshoes for his own children, and only a scanty \nsupply of food to spread on the table of his \nhome on Purchase Street, Boston. His wife, \nElizabeth Wells, was a very remarkable woman. \n\n\n252 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhowever, and in some fashion or other she \nmanaged to keep the children in health and to \ndarn her hus})and's old coat so that it lasted \nuntil his friends got together to buy him a new \none. As clerk of the Massachusetts House of \nRepresentatives Adams earned about a hundred \npounds a year until he went to Congress and, \nfor the rest, he wrote, as we have seen, for the \npress. Moreover, since his chosen friends were \namong the plain people, his own personal ex- \npenses were very slight. \n\nA memorable picture of him has been given \nby his biographer, James K. Hosmer, sitting \nside by side with some ship-carpenter on a \nblock of oak, just above the tide, or with some \nshop-keeper in a fence corner sheltered from \nthe wind, talking, ever talking, of freedom for \nhis country. \" For he was particularly popular \nin the ship-yards, the craftsmen of which exer- \ncised a great influence, his own poverty, plain \nclothes and carelessness as to ceremony and \ndisplay,\" causing the laboring men to feel that \nhe was more nearly on a level with themselves \nthan Bowdoin, Gushing, Otis or Hancock, who, \neither because they possessed wealth or were \naffiliated with it, were counted among the workers \nas aristocrats. Of Adams's daily walks and habits \nvivid hints are given in an affidavit taken at the \ntime when an attempt was made to collect evi- \ndence against him to the end that he might be sent \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 253 \n\nto England and there tried for treason. Noth- \ning came of the project; but there is still pre- \nserved in the London state-paper office the \nfollowing curious memorial of the plan: \n\n\" The information of Richard Sylvester of \nBoston, inn-holder, taken before me, Thomas \nHutchinson, Esq., Chief Justice of said prov- \nince, this twenty-third of January, in the ninth \nyear of his Majesty's reign: \n\n\" This informant sayeth that the day after \nthe boat belonging to Mr. Harrison was burnt, \nthe last summer, the informant observed several \nparties of men gathered in the street at the south \nend of the town of Boston, in the forenoon of the \nday. The informant went up to one of the \nparties, and Mr. Samuel Adams, then one of \nthe representatives of Boston, happened to \njoin the same party near about the same time, \ntrembling and in great agitation [this consti- \ntutional weakness of Adams has been elsewhere \nreferred to]. The party consisted of about seven \nin number who were unknown to the informant, \nhe having but little acquaintance with the in- \nhabitants, or if any of them were known, he \ncannot now recollect them. The informant heard \nthe said Samuel Adams then say to the said \nparty, * If you are men, behave like men. Let \nus take up arms immediately and be free and \nseize all the king's officers. We shall have thirty \nthousand men to join us from the country.' \n\n\n254 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThe informant then walked off l)eHeving his \ncompany was disagreeable. The informant \nfurther sayeth, that after the burning of the \nboat aforesaid, and before the arrival of the \ntroops, that said Samuel Adams has been divers \ntimes in the house of the informant and at one \nof those times particularly the informant began \na discourse concerning the times; and the said \nSamuel Adams said: ' We will not submit to \nany tax nor become slaves. We will take up \narms and spend our last drop of blood before the \nking and Parliament shall impose on us, and \nsettle crown officers to dragoon us. The country \nwas first settled by our ancestors, therefore we \nare free and want no king. The times were \nnever better in Rome than when they had no \nking and were a free state ; and as this is a great \nempire we shall have it in our power to give \nlaws to England.' The informant further sayeth \nthat at divers times between the burning of the \nboat aforesaid and the arrival of the troops \naforesaid, he has heard the said Adams express \nhimself in words to very much the same purpose, \nand that the informant's wife has sometimes been \npresent. . . . The informant further sayeth that, \nabout a fortnight before the troops arrived, the \naforesaid Samuel Adams being at the house \nof the informant, the informant asked him what \nhe thought of the times. The said Adams an- \nswered with great alertness, that, on lighting \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 255 \n\nthe l)eacon, we sliould be joined with thirty \nthousand men from the country with their \nknapsacks and Ijayonets fixed, and added, ' We \nwill destroy every soldier that dare put his foot \non shore.' \"... One cannot help feeling that \nAdams knew to whom he was talking as he \nmade this last boastful remark. Can you not \nsee the unctuous inn-holder, with mouth agape \nat the temerity of a man who should even think, \nmuch less say such bold things against George \nIII.? \n\nAdams talked very little for effect, however. \nEarnest writing and ceaseless doing were his \nconcern. From the time when the Committee \nof Correspondence held its first meeting in the \nrepresentatives' chamber of the town-house, \nNovember 3, 1772, to the day when he fled \nfrom Lexington, he worked steadily, unswerv- \ningly towards one definite end: that of stimu- \nlating in the people a firm resolve to resist \nthe encroachments of the king. During the \nsummer of 1774, while preparing for his de- \nparture to Philadelphia, he was the leading \nmember of a Committee of Safety in Boston, \nwhose particular work it was to afford employ- \nment to the poor in the repairing of streets and \nbuilding of wharves on the town's land. Adams \nfelt very keenly the sufferings of the common \njjeople and believed very deeply in their inherent \nworth; to R. H. Lee he wrote: \" It is the vir- \n\n\n25G OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ntue of the yeomanry we are chiefly to depend \nupon.\" \n\nThough he was fifty-three when he set off \nfor Philadelphia the first time, Adams had never \nbefore left his native town, save for visits to \nplaces a few miles distant. His friends, as we \nhave seen, fitted him out with clothes for this \njourney, and the expenses of travel and of his \nsojourn while Congress should be in session \nwere arranged for by legislative appropria- \ntion. On August 10, 1774, the little party of \nfour delegates started on the way: Thomas \nGushing (in the place of Bowdoin, who was kept \nat home by the illness of his wife), Robert Treat \nPaine, Samuel and John Adams. They left \nthe house of Gushing in considerable state ac- \ncording to John Andrews. \" Am told,\" he \nwrites, \" they made a very respectable parade \nin sight of five regiments encamped on the \nGommon, being in a coach and four, preceded \nby two white servants, well mounted and armed, \nwith four blacks behind in livery, two on horse- \nback and two footmen.\" At Watertown they \nall had dinner with a number of friends who had \ntravelled that far to wish them Godspeed. \n\nJohn Adams, writing to his wife, character- \nized as \"an agreeable jaunt \" the ensuing \njourney in a coach arranged for their special \nconvenience, and one is glad indeed to think \nthat Samuel Adams had the opportunity of \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 257 \n\nthis rare holiday. When they came into New \nHaven \" all the bells in town were set to ring- \ning and the people, men, women, and children \nwere crowding at the doors and windows as if \nto see a coronation.\" In New York they stopped \nat the \" Bunch of Grapes \" tavern; at Princeton \nthey were entertained by Dr. Witherspoon, the \npresident of the college, and at length they ar- \nrived \" dirty and fatigued \" in Philadelphia, \ntie four Massachusetts delegates there taking \nlodgings together \" with Miss Jane Port in \nArch street.\" \n\nVery tactfully, during those first sessions at \nCarpenters' Hall, the Massachusetts men kept \nthemselves and their views in the background. \nThey had been warned by the active sons of \nliberty in Philadelphia that it would be diplo- \nmatic to do this, inasmuch as they had the \ncredit of being \" four desperate adventurers. \n. . . Mr, Gushing a harmless kind of man, \nbut poor, and wholly dependent upon his \npopularity for his subsistence, Mr. Samuel \nAdams a very artful designing man, but des- \nperately poor and wholly dependent on his \npopularity with the lowest vulgar for his living, \nJohn Adams and Mr. Paine two young lawyers of \nno great talents, reputation or weight, who had \nno other means of raising themselves into con- \nsequence than by courting popularity.\" More- \nover, it was understood that one, at least, of \n\n\n258 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthese four men wanted independence and at \nthis stage of the game that was as unpopular in \nthe south as was the Stamp Act itself. Thus \ncoached, the Massachusetts men threw their \n\n\nCARPENTERS HALL, PHILADELPHIA, \n\ninfluence so that the presidency of Congress \nwas given to Peyton Randolph of Virginia, and \nthe first important speech of the session was \nmade by Patrick Henry. Yet at the very start \nSamuel Adams got in a stroke which demon- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 259 \n\nstrated anew his wonderful sagacity in dealing \nwith men. John Adams tells the story: \n\n*' When the Congress first met Mr. Cashing \nmade a motion that it should be opened with \nprayer. It was opposed by Mr. Jay of New \nYork and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina, \nbecause we were so divided in religious senti- \nments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some \nAnabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Con- \ngi-egationalists that we could not join in the same \nact of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams arose and \nsaid he was no bigot and could hear a prayer \nfrom a gentleman of piety and virtue who was \nat the same time a friend to his country. He \nwas a stranger in Philadelphia but had heard \nthat Mr. Duche deserved that character and \ntherefore he moved that Mr. Duche, an Epis- \ncopalian clergyman, might be desired to read \nprayers to the Congress, to-morrow morning. \nThe motion was seconded and passed in the af- \nfirmative. Mr, Randolph, our president, waited \non Mr. Duche and received for answer that, if his \nhealth would permit, he certainly would. Ac- \ncordingly, next morning, he appeared with his \nclerk and in his pontificals, and read several \nprayers in the established form; and then read \nthe Collect for the seventh day of September, \nwhich was the thirty-fifth Psalm [Plead my \ncause, O Lord with them that strive with me: \nfight against them that fight against me. . . . \n\n\n260 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nAnd my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness \nand of thy praise all the day long.] You must \nremember this was the morning next after we \nheard the horrible rumor of the cannonade \nof Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an \naudience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained \nthat Psalm to be read on that morning. After \nthis, Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, \nstruck out into an extemporary prayer which \nfilled the bosom of every man present. I must \nconfess I never heard a better prayer, or one \nso well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, \nDr. Cooper himself never prayed with such \nfervor such ardor such earnestness and pathos, \nand in language so elegant and sublime — for \nAmerica for Congress, for the Province of \nMassachusetts Bay, and especially for the town \nof Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon \neverybody here.\" \n\nSamuel Adams had known that it would have \nan excellent effect. But perhaps it was in re- \nward for the catholicity he appeared to have \nshown that he was immediately placed with \nJohn Adams on a committee to see what rights \nof the colonies had been infringed, and to de- \ntermine the best means of obtaining redress. \n\nIn the interval between this first session \nof the Continental Congress and that to which \nHancock and Adams repaired, directly after \nthe skirmish at Lexington, occurred Boston's \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 261 \n\nlast great town meeting before the outbreak \nof hostilities. Some chapters back we had a \nsnap-shot ghmpse of this, the fifth celebration \nof the Boston Massacre, but let us look at it again, \ngiving Samuel Adams the centre of the stage \nas his biographer Wells has done, in the follow- \ning report quoted from an obviously unsym- \npathetic contemporary : \n\n\" The Selectmen, with Adams, Church, Han- \ncock, Cooper and others, assembled in the \npulpit which was covered with black, and we all \nsat gaping at one another above an hour ex- \npecting! At last a single horse chair stopped \nat the apothecary's opposite the meeting, from \nwhich descended the orator (Warren) of the \nday; and entering the shop was followed by \na servant with a bundle in which were the Cic- \neronian toga &c. \n\n\" Having robed himself he proceeded across \nthe street to the meeting, and being received \ninto the pulpit, he was announced by one of his \nfraternity to be the person appointed to declaim \non the occasion. He then put himself into a \nDemosthenian posture, and with a white hand- \nkerchief in his right hand and with his left in \nhis breeches, — began and ended without action. \nHe was applauded by the mob but groaned at \nby people of understanding. One of the pul- \npiteers (Adams) then got up and proposed the \nnomination of another to speak next year on \n\n\n262 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe bloody Massacre — the first time that ex- \npression was made to the audience, — when some \noflficers cried, ' O fie, fie! ' The gallerians, \napprehending fire, ])oimded out of the windows, \nand swarmed down the gutters Hke rats into \nthe street. The Forty-third regiment returning \naccidentally from exercise with drums beating, \nthrew the whole body into the greatest conster- \nnation. There were neither pageantry, exhi- \nbitions, processions, or bells tolling as usual, \nbut the night was remarked for being the quiet- \nest these many months past.\" \n\nNow the interesting thing is that Samuel \nAdams had expected that there would be trouble \nat this meeting. With fine tact, therefore, he \ninvited the officers to take good seats, treated \nthem with especial civility, and so warded off \nthe riot which he felt sure was imminent. He \npractically says all this in a letter which he \nsent Richard Henry Lee of Virginia immediately \nafterwards, adding that he left them \" no pre- \ntence to behave ill, for it is a good maxim in \nPoliticks as well as War to put and keep the \nenemy in the wrong.\" \n\nOf course the events of the nineteenth of \nApril so widened the breach between the pa- \ntriots and the king's soldiers that some kind \nof conflict was pretty generally seen to be inevi- \ntable. Yet, even now Samuel Adams alone de- \nsired independence. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 263 \n\nWhen the second Continental Congress as- \nsembled John Hancock was made president. \nTrust Samuel Adams now to persuade the mem- \nbers to look at matters his way, when the \ntime should be ripe! Before proceeding to \nfollow the official deliberations let us, however, \nget close to Adams the man, as we happily may \ndo by means of the following letter sent to his \nwife, a fortnight after Gage had proscribed him, \nand now among the Adams papers in the Lenox \nlibrary. New York: \n\n\" Phil., June 28th, 1775. \n\" My dearest Betsy, yesterday I received \nLetters from some of our friends at the Camp \ninforming me of the Engagement between the \nAmerican Troops and the Rebel Army in \nCharlestown. I can not but be greatly rejoyced \nat the tryed Valor of our Countrymen, who by \nall Accounts behaved with an intrepidity be- \ncoming those who fought for their Liberties \nagainst the mercenary Soldiers of a Tyrant. It \nis painful to me to reflect on the Terror I must \nsuppose you were under on hearing the Noise \nof War so near. Favor me my dear with an \nAccount of your Apprehensions at that time, \nunder your own hand. I pray God to cover \nthe heads of our Countrymen in every day of \nBattle and ever to protect you from Injury \nin these distracted times, The Death of our \n\n\n264 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ntruly amiable and worthy Friend Dr Warren is \ngreatly afflicting; the Language of Friendship \nis, how shall we resign him; but it is our Duty \nto submit to the Dispensations of Heaven ' whose \nways are ever gracious ever just.' He fell in the \nglorious Struggle for publick Liberty. Mr. \nPitts and Dr. Church inform me that my dear \nSon has at length escaped from Prison at Bos- \nton. . . . Remember me to my dear Hannah \nand sister Polly and to all Friends. Let me \nknow where good old Surry is. Gage has made \nme respectable by naming me first among those \nwho are to receive no favor from him. I thour- \noughly despise him and his Proclamation. . . . \nThe Clock is now striking twelve. I therefore \nwish you a good Night. \n\n\" Yours most affectionately, \n\n\" S. Adams.\" \n\nThe following September, while Mrs. Adams \nand her daughter were staying at Cambridge, \n— with her father, — and the son of the doughty \nSamuel was doing his duty as surgeon in the \narmy of Washington nearby, the following \nletter, touching in its simplicity, found its way \nto the patriot himself struggling in his country's \nbehalf at Philadelphia: \n\n\" Cambridge Feb. 12, 1776 \n\" My Dear, I Received your affectionate \nLetter by Fesenton and I thank you for your \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 265 \n\nkind Concern for My health and safety. I beg \nyou Would not give yourself any pain on our \nbeing so Near the Camp; the place I am in is \nso Situated, that if the Regulars should ever \ntake Prospect Hill, which god forbid, I should \nbe able to make an Escape, as I am within a few \nstone casts of a Back Road, Which Leads to \nthe Most Retired part of New-Town. ... I \nbeg you to Excuse the very poor Writing as My \npaper is Bad and my pen made with Scissars. \nI should be glad (my dear), if you shouldn't \ncome down soon, you would Write me Word \nWho to apply to for some Monney, for I am low \nin Cash and Every thing is very dear, \n\n\" May I subscribe myself yours \n\n\" Eliza'h Adams.\" \n\nBut now the time is at hand when, at the in- \nstigation of Adams, definite steps towards In- \ndependence were to be taken at Philadelphia. \nThe plain people, whom he had long loved and \ntrusted, had rallied to him just as he had known \nthey would. To his opinion came, also, little \nby little, the men chosen by those people to be \ntheir representatives. Early in April, accord- \ningly, we find Samuel Adams on the committee \nwhich reported the measure to abolish British \ncustom-houses in the thirteen colonies and open \ntheir ports to the commerce of the world. By \nMay 10 Congress, under the lead of John \n\n\n266 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nAdams, had recommended the colonies to set \nup governments of then* own, suppressing all \ncrown authority. In May, also, the Virginia \ndelegates were instructed from home to declare \nfor independence. So the contagion spread, \nuntil, on June 5, Richard Henry Lee of Vir- \nginia offered his resolution declaring the colo- \nnies free and independent states, recommending \nthe formation of foreign alliances, and a plan \nof confederation. \n\nDebate on this epoch-making resolution began \non the eighth of June. Unhappily there was \nthen no Congressional Record so that authentic \nreports of what was said cannot anywhere be \nobtained. But Elbridge Gerry, many years \nafterward, told Samuel Adams's daughter that \nthe success of Lee's measure was very largely \ndue to the \" timely remarks \" of her father; \nthat, by means of one long speech, characterized \nby Gerry as Samuel Adams's ablest effort, two \nor three wavering members were finally con- \nvinced that independence must be attained. \nAnd so zealously did the Man of the Town \nMeeting work, during the three weeks interval \nallowed in order that hesitating delegates might \nconsult their constituents, that, when the meas- \nure was again taken up, on the first days of \nJuly, there was no longer a dissenting voice. \n\nTrumbull's well-known picture of the \" Sign- \ning of the Declaration of Independence \" makes \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 267 \n\nthe act appear a very impressive piece of cere- \nmonial. But it seems not to have been so in \nreaUty. For the day was very hot and, from a \nstable near by, thousands of horse-flies and \nmosquitoes swarmed in to plague the members \nof the Congress by biting at them viciously \nthrough their silk stockings. To these untoward \nconditions, some historians tell us, we owe \nhastily-appended signatures at the bottom of the \nfamous document. Wit flew around, too, as the \ndifferent men signed. John Hancock set down \nhis name in such shape \" that George the Third \nmight read it without spectacles.\" \" Now we \nmust all hang together,\" observed another \nmember, as he affixed his signature. \" Or we \nshall all hang separately,\" retorted the ever- \nwaggish Franklin, signing his own honorable \nname. Inasmuch as Franklin had been par- \nticularly slow to accept the idea of independence, \none cannot help thinking that Samuel Adams \nmust have experienced a special thrill of tri- \numph as his great fellow-townsman thus com- \nmitted himself to the cause of an emancipated \nAmerica. Yet there is only calm happiness \nand no note of personal pride to be read in a \nletter sent, soon afterwards, by Adams to his \nfriend John Pitts at Boston: \n\n\"Phil. July, 1776 \n\" My dear Sir, you were informed by the \nlast Post that Congress had declared the thirteen \n\n\n268 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nUnited Colonies free and independent States. \nIt must be allowed by the impartial World that \nthis Declaration has not been made rashly. \nToo Much I fear has been lost by Delay, but \nan accession of several Colonies has been \ngained by it. Delegates of every Colony were \npresent and concurred in this important Act \nexcept those of New York, who were not au- \nthorized to give their Voice on the Question, \nbut they have since publickly said that a new \nConvention was soon to meet in that Colony, \nand they had not the least Doubt of their acce- \nding to it. Our path is now open to form a plan \nof Confederation and propose Alliances with \nforeign States. I hope our Affairs will now wear \na more agreeable aspect than they have of late. \n\nS. A.\" \n\nYet if there was any man who had a right \nto be proud and to let a strain of jubilation \nget into his Boston letters at this period Samuel \nAdams was that man. For he it was, who by \nurging self-emancipation in season and out of \nseason, by unremitting toil, by persistence, and \nabove all by a shrewd manipulation of his fel- \nlow-members had caused the Child Indepen- \ndence to be born. \n\n\nCHAPTER XI \n\nIN THE REIGN OF A REPUBLICAN \" KING \" \n\nIT was to a town in which independence \nwas regarded as a joyful reality, — but \nover which, none the less, aristocratic ideas \nand ideals long continued to hold sway, — that \nHancock had now returned. Before following \nhis fortunes further let us, therefore, go back \na bit and retrace the recent course of events in \nBoston. \n\nThe day after the Declaration of Independ- \nence had been signed at Philadelphia, Congress \nadopted the following resolution: \" Resolved \nthat copies of the Declaration be sent to the \nseveral assemblies, conventions and councils \nof safety, and to the several commanding officers \nof continental army troops, that it be proclaimed \nin each of the United States and at the head \nof the army.\" \n\nIn accordance with this resolution John Han- \ncock, president of the Congress, had enclosed \na copy of the Declaration to each of the States \nand to the various organizations named in the \n\n\n270 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nresolution. With the Declaration was sent \nthe following letter: \" I do myself the honor to \nenclose, in obedience to the commands of Con- \ngress, a copy of the Declaration of Independence, \nwhich you will please to have proclaimed in \nyour colony in such way and manner as you \nshall judge best. The important consequences \nresulting to the American States from this \nDeclaration of Independence, considered as the \nground and foundation of a future government, \nwill naturally suggest the propriety of proclaim- \ning it in such a mode that the people may be in- \nformed of it.\" \n\nThose were not the days of rapid transit, \nand even such an important communication \nas this could not be forwarded in haste, so that \nit was not until the eighteenth of July, 1776, \nthat the Declaration was proclaimed in Boston. \nNaturally, everybody hurried to the State House \nto hear the great document read from the \nbalcony. Among the eager and excited listeners \nwas Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, who \nimmediately wrote her husband : \" Last Thurs- \nday, after hearing a very good sermon, I went \nwith the multitude into King street to hear the \nDeclaration Proclamation for Independence \nread and proclaimed. . . . Great attention was \ngiven to every word. . . . Thus ends royal \nauthority in the state. And all the people shall \nsay ' Amen.' \" \n\n\nSAJIUEL ADAMS. \n\nPage 252 \n\n\n- >5 \n\ny. o \n\n\n^ I \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 271 \n\nFrom the pen of a British officer, who was a \nprisoner on parole at Boston just then, we get, \nhowever, a more circumstantial account of the \nceremony: \" On the 17th we each received a \ncard from the governor [chairman Board of \nSelectmen ?] requesting the honor of his attend- \nance at a specified hour on the morrow, in the \nTown Hall [Old State House]. As rumors \nwere already afloat touching the decided stand \nthat had been taken at Philadelphia, we were not \nwithout a suspicion as to the purport of this \nmeeting, and we hesitated for awhile as to the \npropriety of giving the sanction of our counte- \nnance to a proceeding which we could not but \nregard as traitorous. Curiosity, however, got \nthe better of scruples which, to say the truth, \nwere not very well founded ; and it was resolved, \nafter a brief consultation, that the invitation \nought to be accepted. Accordingly, at the hour \nappointed, we set out, arrayed in the full dress \nof our corps. \n\n\" As we passed through the town, we found \nit thronged in all quarters with persons of \nevery age and both sexes. All were in their \nholiday suits, every eye beamed with delight, \nand every tongue was in rapid motion. King \nstreet [State street], Queen street [Court street], \nand the other streets adjoining the Council \nChamber were lined with detachments from two \nbattalions of infantry, tolerably well equipped; \n\n\n272 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwhile in front of the jail [site of the Old Court \nHouse on Court street ?] a brigade of artillery \nwas drawn up, the gunners standing by their \npieces with lighted matches; nor, to do them \njustice, was there any admixture of insolence \nin the joy which seemed to pervade all classes. \nWhether long residence among them, and the \nanxiety which we displayed never wantonly to \noffend their prejudices, had secured their esteem, \nor whether they considered it beneath the dignity \nof a grave people standing in a position so critical, \nto vent their spleen upon individuals entirely \nat their mercy, I do not know; but the miarked \nrespect with which we were treated, both by \nsoldiers and civilians, could not be misunder- \nstood. The very crowd opened a lane for us to \nthe door of the hall, and the troops gave us, as \nwe mounted the steps, the salute due to officers \nof our rank. \n\n\" On entering the hall, we found it occupied \nby functionaries, military, civil and ecclesiastical; \namong whom the same good humor and excite- \nment prevailed as among the people out of doors. \nThey received us with great frankness and \ncordiality, and allotted to us such stations as \nenabled us to witness the whole of the ceremony, \nwhich was as simple as the most republican \ntaste could have desired. \n\n\" Exactly as the clock struck one. Colonel \nCrafts, who occupied the chair, rose, and. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 273 \n\nsilence being obtained, read aloud the declara- \ntion, Avhicli announced to the world that the tie \nof allegiance and protection, which had so long \nheld Britain and her North American colonies \ntogether, was forever separated. This being \nfinished, the gentlemen stood up, and each, \nrepeating the words as they were spoken by an \nofficer, swore to uphold, at the sacrifice of life, \nthe rights of his country. Meanwhile the town \nclerk read from a balcony the Declaration of \nIndependence to the crowd; at the close of \nwhich, a shout began in the hall, passed like an \nelectric spark to the streets, which rang with \nloud huzzas, the slow and measured boom of \ncannon, and the rattle of musketry. The \nbatteries on Fort Hill, Dorchester Neck, the \nCastle [Fort Independence], Nantasket and Long \nIsland, each saluted with thirteen guns. The \nartillery in the town fired thirteen rounds, and \nthe infantry, scattered into thirteen divisions, \npoured forth thirteen volleys, all corresponding \nto the number of States which formed the Union. \nWliat followed may be described in a few words. \n\" There was a banquet in the Council Chamber, \nwhere all the richer citizens appeared, where \nmuch wine was drunk, and many appropriate \ntoasts given. Large quantities of liquor were \ndistributed among the crowd outside, whose \npatriotism, of course, grew more and more \nwarm at eveiy draught; and when night closed \n\n\n274 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nin, the darkness was effectually dispelled by a \ngeneral and what was termed then a splendid \nillumination. I need not say that we neither \njoined, nor were expected to join, in any of \nthe festivities. Having sufficiently gratified our \ncuriosity, we returned to our lodgings and passed \nthe remainder of the evening in a frame of mind \nsuch as our humiliating and irksome situation \nmight be expected to produce.\" \n\nThe \" Independent and Chronicle \" of July \n25, 1776, tells us that after our prisoners had \ngone morosely to bed \" the King's Arms, and \nevery sign with any resemblance to it, whether \nLion or Crown, Pestle and Mortar and Crown, \nHeart and Crown etc together with every sign \nthat belonged to a Tory was taken down and \nmade a general conflagration of in King street.\" \nSome days later, the Declaration of Independ- \nence was proclaimed in all the churches of \nBoston in compliance with an order from the \nCouncil. \n\nThe war, of course, went on for seven years \nmore, but it scarcely touched Boston again. \nThe town had troubles enough without it, \nhowever, for the changes of fortune which had \nbefallen the merchants greatly disturbed the \ninternal prosperity of the place, and the working \npeople were in a restless semi-violent condition. \nSamuel Adams was often incensed against \nHancock for his display of wealth; but even \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 275 \n\nHancock issued invitations to a ball given by \nhim at Concert Hall in 1780 on the back of \nplaying cards, — which shows that the richest \nman in the place was straitened for some things. \n\n\" King Hancock \" was the sobriquet which \nthe patriot earned by his aristocratic habits and \nmien ; the Tory papers were never tired of mak- \ning a butt of him. (And, sometimes, their \nobservations were truthful as well as witty.) \nIn the Pennsylvania Ledger of March 11, 1778, \nwe find this paragraph: \" John Hancock of \nBoston appears in public with all the pageantry \nand state of an Oriental prince; he rides in an \nelegant chariot, which was taken in a prize to \nthe * Civil Usage ' pirate vessel, and by the \nowners presented to him. He is attended by \nfour servants dressed in superb livery, mounted \non fine horses richly caparisoned; and escorted \nby fifty horsemen with drawn sabres, the one \nhalf of whom precede and the other follow his \ncarriage.\" \n\nOf course the correspondent must have been \ndescribing in this letter Hancock's appearance \non some occasion of ceremony. But, even then, \nthe setting was a gorgeous one. Hancock, in \nfact, was never willing to forego any opportunity \nfor display which offered. Soon there came \nplenty such opportunities, for he was elected \nfirst governor of Massachusetts in 1780 and, \nwith the exception of an interim of two years \n\n\n27G OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\n(1785-1787) when James Bowdoin held that \noffice, he was thus prominently in the service \nof his State until his death, October 8, 1793. \n\nDuring the earlier part of Hancock's \" reign,'* \nMassachusetts was only one of a group of \nloosely federated States scattered along the \nAtlantic coast. Even when the war had been \nconcluded and the States were \" free \" they were \nnot \" united.\" For no satisfactory method of \ncentral government had yet been evolved. In \nthe struggle incident to the establishment of \nsuch a government, Boston, of course, had its \ndue share, the Federalist party, — made up \nof those who believed reconstruction was neces- \nsary, if the war should not turn out to have been \nin vain, — long combating with but finally \ntriumphing over the slow-going conservatives. \nThus it was that the Constitution, drawn up by \nthe Convention held at Philadelphia in 1787, \nwas ultimately adopted at Boston in January, \n1788. In this crisis Paul Revere and his me- \nchanic friends again played an important part, \na mass-meeting at the Green Dragon Tavern \ncasting on the scales at the psychological \nmoment, what may have been the decisive \nweight in favor of the Constitution's adoption. \nOnce the step was taken, Boston character- \nistically celebrated it with a dinner, amicable \nspeech-making and a long and imposing pro- \ncession. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 277 \n\nIn 1789 Washington was elected first president \nof the United States. Tlie following autumn he \nmade his famous tour of those New England \nStates, which had already ratified the new Consti- \ntution, accompanied by John Adams, his vice- \npresident. To Hancock the Boston portion of \nhis visit was a trying ordeal, for the patriot had \nhimself hoped for first honors at the hands of \nthe American people and he was not able to \nconceal his pique. So he foolishly \" stood upon \nhis dignity,\" taking the position that Washing- \nton, as a foreign potentate, was bound by \netiquette to pay the first visit to the ruler of the \nCommonwealth in which he found himself. \nAccordingly, he allowed the crowd assembled \non the street that raw, chill day of the President's \narrival in Boston to contract what was for years \nknown as \" the Washington cold,\" while awaiting \nthe welcome he had no thought of extending to \nthe distinguished visitor. Washington's Diary \nis very entertaining reading at this point, because \nof its fine reticence in the matter of Hancock's \ndiscourtesy. \n\n\" On October 24, dressed by Seven o'clock and \nset out at eight — at ten we arrived in Cambridge \naccording to appointment; ... At this place \nthe Lieut. Govr. Mr. Saml Adams, with the \nexecutive council met me and preceded my \nentrance into town — which was in every degree \nflattering and honorable. To pass over the \n\n\n278 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nMinutiae of the arrangement for this purpose, \nit may suffice to say that at the entrance I was \nwelcomed by the selectmen in a body. \n\n*' Then, following the Liet Govr. and Council \nin the order we came from Cambridge (pre- \nceded by the Town Corps very handsomely \ndressed) we passed through the Citizens classed \nin their different professions, and under their \nown banners, till we came to the State House; \nfrom which across the Street an Arch was thrown ; \nin the front of which was this inscription — \n' To the man who unites all hearts ' — and, on \nthe other ' To Columbia's favorite son ' — - and \non one side thereof, next the State House, \nin a pannel decorated with a trophy, composed \nof the Arms of the United States — of the Com- \nmonwealth of Massachusetts — and our French \nAllies, crowned with a wreath of Laurel, was \nthis inscription — ' Boston relieved March 17, \n1776 ' This Arch was handsomely ornamented, \nand over the Center of it a Canopy was erected \n20 feet high, with the American Eagle perched \non the top. After passing through the Arch, \nand entering the State House at the S° End and \nascending to the upper floor and returning to \na Balcony at the N° end ; three cheers was given \nby a vast concourse of people who, by this time, \nhad assembled at the Arch — then followed an \node composed in honour of the President; and \nwell sung by a band of select singers — after \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 279 \n\nthis three cheers — followed by the different \nProfessions and Mechanics in the order they \nwere drawn up, with their colours through a \nlane of the People, which had thronged about \nthe arch under which they passed. \n\n*' The Streets, the Doors, windows and tops \nof Houses were crowded with well-dressed \nLadies and Gentlemen. The procession being \nover I was conducted to my lodgings at a Widow \nIngersoU's (which is a very decent and good \nhouse) by the Leeut. Govt, and Council — accom- \npanied by the Vice President where they took \nleave of me. Having engaged yesterday to take \nan informal dinner with the Govr to-day, but \nunder full persuasion that he would have waited \nupon me as soon as I should have arrived — I \nexcused myself upon his not doing it, and in- \nforming me through his Secretary that he was \ntoo much indisposed to do it, being resolved to \nreceive the visit. Dined at my lodgings where \nthe Vice-President favored me with his company. \n\n\" October 25 — Attended Divine Service at \nthe Episcopal Church whereof Dr. Parker is \nthe incumbent [old Trinity on Summer Street] \nin the forenoon and the Congregational Church \nof Mr. Thatcher in the afternoon. Dined at \nmy lodgings with the Vice-President. Mr. \nBowdoin accompanied me to both Churches. \nBetween the two I received a visit from the Govr. \nwho assured me that indisposition alone pre- \n\n\n280 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nvented his doing it yesterday and that he was \nstill indisposed; but as it had been suggested \nthat he expected to receive the visit from the \nPresident, which he knew was improper, he was \nresolved at all haz'ds to pay his Compliments \nto-day.\" \n\nMadame Hancock, who never forgot the duty \na good wife owes to a quick-tempered man \nconspicuously before the public, insisted till \nthe end of her life that her husband had really \nbeen too ill to welcome Washington in person \nthe day he arrived. None the less the indelible \nimpression has come down to us that the slight \nwas deliberate on Hancock's part. The letters \nexchanged between the two dignitaries before \nHancock actually did pay his respects to Wash- \nington are very amusing: \n\n\" Sunday 26th October \n\" half past twelve O'clock \n\n*' The Governor's best respects to the Presi- \ndent. If at home and at leisure the Governor \nwill do himself the honour to pay his respects \nin half an hour. This would have been done \nmuch sooner had his health in any degree per- \nmitted. He now hazards everything as it \nrespects his health, for the desirable purpose.\" \n\nPromptly this note went back to the mansion \non the hill from the boarding-house at the \njuncture of Tremont and Court Streets: \n\n\n«P«a«if \n\n\n^ \n\n\n\\^§ . i ■ H \n\n'p^ |.Ii^ ^|\"^li,fSO-li P 1 1^ lp-= f I ?yill ^=1/^ Itl^'J ^ Vr \n\n\n■C \n\n'c \n\n\n#l?gO; ^ \n\n\n«. f> \n\n\nL^tfaras^l i . Mf \n\n\n''t.. \n\n\nX d, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 281 \n\n\" Sunday 26th October, one oclock \n\" The president of the United States presents \nhis best respects to the Governor, and has the \nhonor to inform him that he shall be at home \ntill two o'clock. The President need not express \nthe pleasure it will give him to see the Governor ; \nbut, at the same time, he most earnestly begs \nthat the Governor will not hazard his health \non the occasion.\" \n\nHancock came, however, heavily swathed \nin red flannel and borne upon the shoulders of \ntwo men straight into Washington's drawing- \nroom. The president was all solicitude concern- \ning the painful and very inconvenient attack of \ngout, and with all courteous haste returned the \nvisit. But he stayed only long enough to drink \ntea, returning to Widow IngersoU's to sleep, \nthough Hancock had previously sent an express \nto meet him at Brookfield with an invitation to \nbe his guest while in Boston, — and he had then \naccepted the governor's offer of hospitality. \n\nOne day of Washington's visit to Boston was \ndevoted in part to receiving visits from the clergy \nof the town. None appreciated more highly \nthan he the benefit of religion to a well-ordered \ncommunity; the congenial service at Trinity \nwith its prayer-book substitution — in the peti- \ntion for those in authority — of the \" President \nof the United States \" for the king had touched \n\n\n282 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhim deeply. Other delegations which waited \non him represented the Town of Boston, Harvard \nCollege, the Cincinnati, — and the Governor \nand Council of the state formally. \" After \nwhich, at 3 O'clock,\" says the Diary, \" I dined \nat a large and elegant Dinner at Faneuil Hall, \ngiven by the Govr. and Council.\" \n\nEven the Unitarians had a share of Washing- \nton's attention, for he went to an oratorio in \nKing's Chapel, at eleven o'clock, on the morning \nof the Faneuil Hall dinner. The transition of \nthis stately edifice, built for Episcopal worship, \ninto the use which obtains there to this day, \ndated some years back from the time of \nWashington's visit. Deacon John Tudor, whose \nDiary has been quoted elsewhere, wrote thus \nquaintly about the matter on the first Sunday of \nNovember, 1782: \" I went to Chappie in Boston \nto hear Mr. Freeman Read prayer & preach. \nHis Tex was Search the Scriptures. The Old \nSouth people met with the Church people. In \nthe forenoon the Ch of England Service was \ncarrd on & p. m. the Congregational way and \nboath Worshipd togather with the Ministers, \ntho' Mr. Freeman was not Ordain'd, as he could \nnot go to England in those unhappy times of \nWar with England. And the Reason of the 2 \nCongregations meeting in this way was, that \nthe British troops when they had posession of \nthe Town cruelly tore down all the inside of the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 283 \n\nOld South INIeeting house to exercise their \nHorses in, So that when the people that where \nforss'd oute of Town return'd they was oblig'd \nto borrow the Chappie to meet in. The Chappie \npeople then went to Trinity Church, as Doer \nCanner their Minister went off with the British \ntroops, when they were destitute of a p'reacher \nfor some years, as the War continued between \nEngland & America. But about this time the \nChappie people and said Freeman Agreed and \nwith the Old South people met & Worshipt'd \nas aforesaid, and to me it was Agreeable to see \nformer Bigatree so far gon & going off, and God \ngrant that for Time to come boath Churchmen \n& Desenters may live in peace & Love.\" \n\nThe coming of Unitarianism (in 1785) has been \nclassed by Henry Cabot Lodge, — in his interest- \ning chapter in the \" Memorial History \" on this \ntransition period which we are now discussing, — \nwith the other momentous changes which meant \nthe approach of a new era : \"As the old century \nhastened to its close the old simplicity as well as \nthe old stateliness and pomp slipped away \nThose were the days when the gentry lived in \nlarge houses enclosed by handsome gardens, \nand amused themselves with card parties, \ndancing parties and weddings; when there \nwere no theatres and nothing in the way of \nrelaxation except these little social festivities. \nBut the enemy was at the gates, a great hurrying, \n\n\n284 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsuccessful, driving democracy. Brick blocks \nthreatened the gardens (the Tontine buildings, \nthe first block in Boston, date from 1793), the \ntheatre came, despite the august mandate of \nGovernor Hancock; the elaborate and stately \ndress of the eighteenth century began to be \npushed aside, first for grotesque and then for \nplainer fashions ; the little interests of provincial \ndays began to wane.\" \n\nThe old society had been full of brilliant color \nand John Hancock, everything about whom \nwas picturesque, seems fittingly to have been its \nhead. Though he may at times have deserved \nthe epithet, \" the empty barrel,\" which John \nAdams is said to have applied to him, he had \nvery real spectacular value as ruler of the \nPuritan town. His house, with its dining hall \nin which sixty guests could easily be seated at a \ntime and in which he was wont to entertain from \na wheel-chair with brilliant talk, was one of the \nwonders of the time. A description of him as \nhe appeared ten years before his death shows \nhim \" dressed in a red velvet cap within which \nwas one of fine linen. The latter was turned up \nover the lower edge of the velvet one two or \nthree inches. He wore a blue damask gown \nlined with silk; a white stock, a white satin \nembroidered waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, \nwhite silk stockings and red morocco slippers. \nIt was a general practice in genteel families to \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 285 \n\nhave a tankard of punch made in the morning \nand placed in a cooler when the season required \nit. At this visit Hancock took from the cooler, \nstanding on the hearth, a full tankard and drank \nfirst himself, and then offered it to those present.\" \nNo one thought this impolite. It was as though \nthe king had touched the cup! \n\nThe time was one of much drinking; the \ntavern keepers were growing rich fast. It was \na time of much eating also. Tables were loaded \ndown with food. The working people dined, \nthen as now, at about noon, but society folk \nhad their heavy meal at two o'clock and three \no'clock was the proper hour for ceremonious \ndinners. For some time there had been a good \nmany concerts. A gentleman named Deblois \nhad built Concert Hall in 1760, and here private \nentertainments of many kinds as well as select \ndancing parties were held. In order to obtain \na card to the subscription assemblies here it \nwas necessary that those in charge should unani- \nmously give their consent. There was thus a \nvery real aristocracy in the new republic. \nMinuets were danced and there were contra \ndances; but cotillions were of a later date. A \nvery great deal was made of marriages, and that \nadmirable gossip William Sullivan tells us that \nthe bride was visited daily for four successive \nweeks, — which seems to have been taking a \nvery cruel advantage of a defenceless damsel. \n\n\n286 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nFunerals were great events, also, private invita- \ntions being issued as well as public notice given \nand attendance being rigidly required of all \nconcerned. \n\nYet in many ways it was a very crude age and \nrevolting is tlie only adjective which can properly \ncharacterize some of the public occurrences. \nIt was during Governor Hancock's time that \nRachel Wall was hanged near the West Street \ngate of the Common \"for stealing a hat.\" The \nowner of the hat was Margaret Bender, and it \nis undoubtedly true that Rachel Wall threatened \nher with personal violence in addition to stealing \nher bonnet \" on the public highway, March \n18, 1789.\" But hanging seems to have been a \ndisproportionate punishment. \n\nMoreover, the \" civic feast \" of 1792, to \ncelebrate the seeming success of the French \nRevolution, was an orgy which reflects no great \ncredit upon eighteenth century civilization. \" A \nwhole ox, skinned and dressed, leaving the head \nand horns entire and the eyes protruding from \ntheir sockets,\" says William Sullivan, \" was \nturned on a great wooden spit before a furnace \non Copp's Hill, and when the animal was suffi- \nciently roasted he was placed on a sledge or \ncarriage and there properly supported and \npropped up was drawn through the principal \nstreets of the town, and was followed by two \ncart-loads of bread and two hogs-heads of punch. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 287 \n\nAn immense concourse of people attended ; . . . \nthe procession terminated in State street, where \na table was laid from the eastern end of the City \nHall to near Kilby street; and on this table it \nwas intended that the friends of liberty should \nfeast from the roasted ox. \n\n\" The scene soon changed; the cutting up \nand distribution of the animal became ridicu- \nlous and soon riotous. The roasted fragments \nwere thrown into the air, and hurled at female \nspectators who thronged the balconies and \ncrowded the windows.\" A pole sixty feet high, \ncrowned with the horns of the unhappy ox, was \nerected at the place where the feast was most \nriotous, which place has ever since borne the \nname of Liberty Square. When the Bostonians \nfound that they had been celebrating the coming \nin of \" Liberty \" on the very day that Louis XVI, \nwho had been their good friend, was put to \ndeath on the guillotine they tardily came to \ntheir senses. This travesty in the name of liberty \nreminds me of an advertisement at an earlier \ndate which may well enough be quoted here. It \ncan be found in the Boston Gazette of January 2, \n1775: \"To be sold by Public Auction, on \nThursday next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, \nall the Household Furniture, belonging to the \nEstate of the Rev. Mr. Moorhead, deceased, \nconsisting of Tables, Chairs, Looking Glasses, \nFeather Beds, Bedsteads and Bedding, Pewter, \n\n\n288 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nBrass, sundry Pieces of Plate &c, A valuable \ncollection of Books — Also a likely Negro Lad — \nThe sale to be at the House in Auchmuty's Lane, \n[Essex street] South End, not far from Liberty \nTree.\" A human being sold as a slave, in Boston, \nnot far from Liberty Tree, in 1775! \n\nOne striking character whom we must always \nassociate with Hancock's \" reign \" was the \nhighly original Madam Haley. Madam Haley \nwas the sister of John Wilkes, and widow of a \nrich London merchant. She had come to \nAmerica in 1785 to look after her husband's \nproperty and the better to do this she married \nher steward, Patrick Jeffry. She lived in great \nmagnificence in what is best known as the \nGardiner Greene house and when Charlestown \nbridge was opened she paid, it is said, five \nhundred dollars for the privilege of being the \nfirst to drive over it. Her carriage on this \noccasion was drawn by four white horses. \n\nA great deal was made of the opening of this \nbridge. The Diary of Deacon John Tudor \ndescribes the festivity thus: \" June 17, 1786, \nThis day Charles River bridge was finished, \nwhen a vast concourse of people passed over: \nThere was two tables of 320 feet sett up on \nBunker's hill, the place where the Battle was \nfought with the Brittons this Day 11 years, on \nthe Day Charlestown was burnt. This Day \nof festivity & joy was Kept so as to entertain \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 289 \n\n800 Gentlemen ; the Governor's &c &c was pres- \nent. 13 Tosts &c was drank &c &c. Sutch a \nConcourse of people, Carriages &c I never Saw \nat one Time before; Said Bridge is 1503 feet \nlong encluding the abutments and is the greatest \npeice of Work ever don in Emerica. . . . The \nbreadth of the Bridge 42 feet & Ornamented \nwith 40 Lamps, which make a Sparkling Show \nin the Night.\" [This was the first bridge ever \nbuilt between Boston and Charlestown and it \nwas situated in about the place of that now used \nby the Elevated Road. John Hancock headed \nthe list of its incorporators; the company was \nempowered to collect tolls (which were to be \ndoubled on the Lord's day) for a term of forty \nyears, on condition of paying two hundred \npounds annually to Harvard College to com- \npensate that institution for the loss of the ferri- \nage between Boston and Charlestown. The \nenterprise was financially successful, and con- \ntinued to be so until the Warren free bridge was \nbuilt in 1828.] So it was quite a safe bridge for \nMadam Haley to drive over in her splendid \ncarriage at the head of the procession. \n\nThere is a story that a country man once \ncalled on this interesting and eccentric lady at \nher Boston house and, having been accorded the \nprivilege of seeing her, owned that he came from \ncuriosity, having heard so much about her. \nThereupon Madam Haley asked what he might \n\n\n290 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhave heard. \" That you were very rich,\" he \nreturned simply, \" that you live in great style, \ndo much good and are very homely.\" \n\n\" Now you see me,\" said the lady, \" what do \nyou think about it ? \" \n\n*' I swear I believe it's all true! \" answered her \ncandid caller. \n\nThe house in Milton which had been \nGovernor Hutchinson's also attracted Madam \nHaley- Jeff ry and she purchased it. When she \nreturned to England she left Jeffry there in \npossession of all the furniture, plate, and orna- \nments which had been hers. Jeffry lived a gay \nlife : he had a retinue of servants at his command \nand entertained magnificently. A club of men \ndined with him every week; and after the gay \ntalk and excellent wines the guests took their \nleave and were driven to the front door, where \nthey sat in their carriage while the host, bare- \nheaded, pledged them in one glass more. \n\nIt is Madam Haley who is referred to as \nMadam H. in William Beloe's eccentric work, \n'* The Sexagenarian; or the Recollections of \na Literary Life \" (1817). Beloe was a Londoner, \nwho is described by Southey, in one of his letters, \nas \"an odd man who talks in a dialect of his \nown which puzzled me confoundedly.\" Yet \nit is perfectly easy to follow Beloe's racy account \nof- Madam Haley, whom he seems to have known \nwell. This lady, he says \" was the sister of \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 291 \n\nJohn Wilkes of famous memory, had a large \nportion of his intellectual endowments, and was \nvery little his inferior in vivacity humour and \nwit. \n\nJeffry, it appears, was her third husband, \nHaley having originally been the head clerk of \nthe man who acquired the family fortune. \n'* Haley was a plain sensible good sort of man,\" \ndeclares Beloe, \" wholly absorbed in commercial \npursuits, who soon found it expedient, for the \nsake of a quiet life, to suffer his cara sposa to do \nas she liked. She was exceedingly well informed, \nhad read a great deal, possessed a fine taste, \nand, with respect to literary merit, considerable \njudgment. She accordingly sought with much \navidity the society of those who were distin- \nguished in the world by their talents and their \nwritings. When the expression ' of those ' is used \nit must be understood to apply to men only, for \non all occasions, she was at no pains to conceal \nher contemptuous opinion of her own sex ; and it \nwas no uncommon thing to see her at table \nsurrounded with ten or twelve eminent men, \nwithout a single female. \n\n\" She had great conversational talents, and \nunfortunately, like her brother, she seldom \npermitted any ideas of religion or even of delicacy \nto impose a restraint upon her observations. \nHer disregard of propriety was also conspicu- \nously manifested on other occasions. She in- \n\n\n292 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nvariably attended all the more remarkable \ntrials at the Old Bailey, where she regularly \nhad a certain place reserved for her. When the \ndiscussion or trial was of such a nature that \ndecorum, and indeed the Judges themselves, \ndesired women to withdraw, she never stirred \nfrom her place but persisted in remaining to \nhear the whole, with the most unmoved and \nunblushing earnestness of attention.\" \n\nSamuel Breck, who has before rendered us \nvaluable service, gives us in his \" Recollections \" \na pen picture of Madam Haley after she had \nsettled down in her Boston home: '* She had \ncertainly passed her grand climacteric, and in \nher mouth was a single tooth of an ebon color. \nHer favorite dress was a red cloth riding-habit \nand black beaver hat. In these she looked very \nlike an old man. Thus attired on some gala \nday she was paying a visit to Mrs. Hancock, \nwhen Van Berkle, the Dutch envoy, happened \nto be in Boston. He came, of course, to salute \nthe Governor, with whom, however, he was not \npersonally acquainted. On entering the room \nhe saw a venerable head, decorated with a hat \nand plumes belonging to a person robed in \nscarlet and seated in an arm-chair in a con- \nspicuous part of the room, and knowing that \nGovernor Hancock was too gouty to walk, he \nvery naturally concluded that the person before \nhim was the master of the house. He accordingly \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 293 \n\napproached and bowing said he hoped his \nExcellency was better; that being on a visit \nto Boston he had ventured to introduce himself, \nfor the purpose of testifying in person his high \nadmiration &c &c. Before his compliment was \nfinished the lady undeceived him but in such \nmanner as to put the minister perfectly at his \nease.'* \n\nMadam Haley, according to Mr. Breck, was \nthe \" principal star of Boston society. Her \nhighly gifted mind and elegant manners much \nmore than balanced her deficiency in beauty. \nShe had surrounded herself with a menagerie, \nso that the court-yard was filled with cockatoes, \npoll parrots and monkeys; yet she felt herself \nlonely and set her cap for a husband.\" Breck \ngoes on to say that when she married Jeffry she \ngave him her entire fortune of seventy thousand \npounds sterling. The date of the marriage is \nfixed by the records of Trinity Church, Boston, \nas February 13, 1786. Alderman Haley at this \ntime had been dead five years. \n\n\" Wlien a female approaching to seventy leads \nto the altar a bridegroom who has not seen \nthirty, the hours of Elysium seldom continue \nlong,\" observes Beloe crisply in his quaint \nbook. \" In a very short interval a separation \nwas mutually thought expedient. With such an \nallowance as her husband thought proper to \nmake her , . . the lady took a very early \n\n\n294 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nopportunity of recrossing the Atlantic; and \nafter a sliort residence in London fixed herself \nat Bath where she passed * an old age of cards.' \" \nShe died there May 9, 1808, and Jeffry at Milton \nin 1812, aged sixty-four. So that while the \ndifference in the ages of the couple was not \nquite so startling as Beloe represents, it was \nnone the less considerable. Ten years before \nhis death the Pemberton Square estate was sold \nby Jeffry to Jonathan Mason, and the next \nyear Mason transferred it to Gardiner Greene. \nGreene's lot included considerably more than \nthe present Pemberton Square, for it ran back to \nSomerset Street and came dow^n to Tremont \nStreet. \n\nHancock and Adams, who had been close \nfriends at the time of the outbreak of the Revo- \nlution, were at cross purposes during many of \nthe years that Hancock held the gubernatorial \noffice. But it is a mistake to assume that Adams \nenvied Hancock the position bestowed upon \nhim by the franchises of the people. In a letter \nto his wife the sturdy old patriot wrote, in 1780: \n*' I flatter myself that this will prove a happy \nchoice ... I am far from being an enemy to \nthat gentleman though he has been prevailed \nupon to mark me as such. I have so much \nfriendship for him as to wish with all my heart, \nthat in the most critical circumstances, he may \ndistinguish between his real friends and his \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 295 \n\nflattering enemies: or rather between the real \nfriends of the country and those who will be \nready to offer the essence of flattery to him wlio \nis the first man in it. This will require an accu- \nrate knowledge of men. I therefore again wish \nthat he may have the most faithful counsellors \nto assist him in the administration of affairs. \nCan I say more ? If, with the best advice, he \nis able to hold the reins of government with \ndignity, I wish him a continuance of the honor. \nIf he renders our country secure in a flour- \nishing condition, I will never be so partial \nand unjust as to withhold my tribute of ap- \nplause.\" \n\nNor did he withhold that tribute. The \ndifference between the friends was patched up \nand when Hancock succeeded Bowdoin as \ngovernor (in 1787) Samuel Adams became one of \nthe members of the Council. When Washington \nvisited Boston the older man was lieutenant \ngovernor as we have seen. And when \" King \" \nHancock died, October 8, 1793 \" the man of the \ntown meeting \" was chosen to be the head of \naffairs in Massachusetts. Adams was now over \nseventy years of age and as he followed, as chief \nmourner, the bier of his long-time friend, his \nstrength failed him. On reaching State Street, \nhe was obliged to withdraw from the procession. \nHancock's remains were interred in the old \nGranary Burying Ground, and for years the \n\n\n296 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nonly marking of the grave was a bit of rough \nstone reading \n\n\" No. 16 \nTomb of \nHancock ** \n\nThe rich patriot left no children and his \nwidow married James Captain Scott three years \nafter his death. She lived to be a very old \nwoman and, towards the end of her life, was by \nno means wealthy. \n\n\nCHAPTER XII \n\nAN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AERONAUT \n\nONE of the most interesting characters in \nBoston, at the end of the eighteenth \ncentury, was Dr. John Jeffries, famous \nin his time as the first American to cross \nthe EngHsh channel in a balloon. For all I \nknow he may be the only American who has \never so distinguished himself; the history of \nAeronautics is a subject upon which I am no \nauthority. But Jeffries is a unique person from \nseveral points of view and, in these days when all \nthe world is interested in air-voyaging, his quaint \nand very rare account of his own exploits may \nwell enough engage our attention. \n\nDr. Oliver Wendell Holmes writes of having \nhidden behind the door in terror, when he was \na little fellow, as he saw the venerable Dr. John \nJeffries being ushered up over the stairs to take \npart in a consultation concerning a sick relative. \nBut this fright must have been induced by the \ndoctor and not by the man. For every one found \nJeffries very charming. He Was born in Boston \n\n\n298 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nin 1745 and died there September 16, 1819. \nYet his sympathies, during the Revolution and \nafter, were always with the British. It was \nhe who, while wandering over the field of Bunker \nHill as a surgeon of the king's army, discovered \nand identified the body of the lamented Warren, \n— Warren, who had, only the day before, \naffectionately implored him to \" come over on \nthe right side.\" Jeffries, too, was one of those \nwho were wont to sit nightly at Earl Percy's \nhospitable dinner-table during the days of the \nOccupation and, in the account of his \" Voyages\" \nhe indignantly denies that it was a flag of the \nUnited States that he suspended from the car \nof his balloon as he set out on his epoch-making \ntrip. \n\nJeffries was graduated from Harvard in 1763, \nBut for his medical training and his degrees in \nscience he went to London and Aberdeen, — \nas indeed he must have done, — and at the \nevacuation of Boston he accompanied the troops \nto Halifax, where he was made by Lord Howe \nsurgeon-general of the forces in Nova Scotia. \nIn December, 1780, he resigned and returned to \nLondon, where he practised successfully and \noccupied himself with scientific investigation. \n\nInterested in all kinds of experiments, he \nspent a good deal of time studying the construc- \ntion of balloons, for when he was in his prime \naerial navigation was the wonder topic of the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 299 \n\nday, — just as flying-machines are now. The \nmost daring aeronaut of that period was a \nFrenchman, Francois Blanchard, who had \nbuilt a balloon with sails and a rudder which \npromised so well that Jeffries resolved to accom- \npany him on a voyage for the purpose of making \n\" a full investigation of the nature and properties \nof the atmosphere which surrounds us \" and \n*' the effect which oars or wings might be made \nto produce in directing the course of the Balloon.\" \nThe paper in which the alert doctor described \nthe resulting experiment was read before the \nRoyal Society of London in January, 1786. \n\nThe doctor had not found it at all easy to \npersuade Blanchard to let him come along as \na passenger, for the aeronaut did not relish the \nidea of cluttering up his car with maps, numer- \nous scientific instruments, and bottles for the \nreception of the atmosphere at different heights \nabove the earth which Jeffries insisted upon \ntaking. \" But,\" says the narrator of the voyage, \n\" I resolved to gratify this, which had finally \nbecome my ruling passion,\" In consideration \nof one hundred guineas presented him for that \npurpose Blanchard therefore let him come. \n\nThis initial voyage of Dr. Jeffries was from \nLondon to Kent, and for it he provided himself, \nas he quaintly says, \" with a blank book of \nseveral sheets of paper in quarto, ruled into \ncolumns, the first to note the hour and minutes \n\n\n300 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof the day, the next for the state of the thermom- \neter, then for that of the Barometer, Electrom- \neter and for transient remarks of what passed. \nI did not like to entrust to a common pen or to \npencils, they being liable to accidents, and there- \nfore furnished myself with a silver one which \nanswered my purpose extremely well. By this \narrangement I Could, with the several instru- \nments conveniently placed on the side of me in \nthe Aerial Car easily take the state of each of \nthem as they varied and enter it in the proper \ncolumn.\" \n\nThe place of the ascent was the Rhedarium, \nnear Grosvenor Square, London, an unfavorable \nspot as it proved, because of the surrounding \nbuildings. The day chosen was Monday, No- \nvember 29, 1784. \" I had also provided an \nhandsome British Flag,\" says Jeffries, \" which \nwas invidiously misrepresented the next day, \nin one of the public papers, to have been the \nFlag of the American States. M. Blanchard \nreceived one from the hands of the Dutchess of \nDevonshire, emblazoned with the arms of that \nillustrious family; and while he was paying his \nrespects to his Royal Highness the Prince of \nWales, her Grace the Dutchess of Devonshire \nand other noble Personages, who, by their \npresence, condescended to patronize our Voyage, \nI was employed in our Aerial Car, in fixing and \nsecuring my instruments in the most safe and \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 301 \n\nconvenient manner; and at 34 minutes after \ntwo we arose over the railing which had enclosed \nthe apparatus. ... In about six minutes from \nour ascent St. Paul's appeared much diminished \nto my view. ... At 3 minutes past three the \nThermometer had fallen to 35 [from 51 when they \nset off] the Barometer to 25 (from 30) and the \nHydrometer had changed from 0 to 3 degrees dry. \nAt this time the ships on the River Thames \nappeared like very small shallops or canoes in \na narrow foggy creek. The clouds now seemed \nto have fallen greatly below us.\" \n\nWhen, a few minutes later, the city of London \n\" could scarcely be distinguished by a prospect- \nglass \" both the voyagers were obliged to put \non heavy furs, \" and a little dog which I had \ntaken with me, crumpled himself up at my feet,\" \nsays Jeffries, \" and began to shake and shed \ntears with the cold.\" Soon after this the men \nrefreshed themselves with cold chicken, and \ndrank wine to the health of their friends below. \nThen their descent began and, shortly after four \no'clock, they landed in Kent, Jeffries \" a little \nfatigued and feverish but a bowl of warm tea \nset me right.\" One interesting general observa- \ntion made by the experimenter is to the effect \nthat, while he was in the car, he was so insensible \nof the motion that \" but for the disappearance \nor diminution of objects or from the rising or \nfalling of the mercury in the Barometer \" he \n\n\n302 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwould have thought the balloon stationary, \nrapid though its progress certainly was! \n\nThe great incident of Jeffries' career was how- \never, his \" Aerial experiment, designed from the \nRoyal Castle of Dover, across the British Channel \ninto France.\" The only condition upon which \nBlanchard would take a passenger on this trip \nwas that if it were imperative that the balloon \nshould be lightened of his weight the guest of \nthe occasion should get out of the car, — pre- \nsumably plunging into the sea to drown. On \nthis trip Jeffries did not take with him \" any \nother philosophical instrument but his barom- \neter and mariner's compass ; \" so that he had \nfew things — beside himself — to cast overboard, \nshould the balloon prematurely begin to turn \nearthward by reason of the weight it carried. \nBut let us get the story from his own quaint \nand interesting narrative: \n\n\" The Balloon being filled a little before one \no'clock, we suffered it to rise, so as to be dis- \nengaged from the apparatus for filling it and \nto be drawn down again just at the edge of the \nCliff, where we attached the wings or oars. . . . \nAnd exactly at one o'clock (having in the Car \nw^ith us, three sacks of sand ballast, of ten pounds \neach, a large parcel of pamphlets, two cork \njackets, a few extra clothes of M. Blanchard, a \nnumber of inflated bladders with two small \nanchors or grapnels, with cords affixed to assist \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 303 \n\nour landino;) we rose slowly and majestically \nfrom the Clifl', which being at the time of our \nascent from it almost covered with a beautiful \nassembly from the city, neighboring towns and \nvillages, with carriages horses and so on together \nwith the extensive Beach of Dover, crouded with \na great concourse of people, with numbers of \nboats &c assembled near the shore, under the \nCliffs, afforded us, at our first arising from them, \na most beautiful and picturesque view indeed. \n[What a sentence!] ... At half past one the \nBalloon seemed to be extended to its utmost \nextent. ... At fifty minutes after one I found \nwe were descending fast. We immediately cast \nout one sack of ballast; but the mercury in the \nBarometer still rising, we cast out half another \nsack ; on ^A'hich we began to rise and the mercury \nagain to fall in the Barometer. We appeared at \nthis time to be about one-third of the way from \nthe English towards the French coast. \n\n\" We now began to lose all distinct view of \nthe Castle of Dover. At two o'clock we attached \ntwo small slings to the circle over us, towards \neach end of the Car, and a third in the middle of \nit, a little lower than the other two to rest our \nfeet upon; the three being designed to favour \nour beaver-like retreat upwards in case we were \nforced down in to the water. We now found \nthat we were descending again ; on which occa- \nsion we were obliged to cast out the remaining \n\n\n304 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsack and a half of ballast, sacks and all; not- \nwithstanding which, not finding that we rose, \nwe cast out a parcel of the pamphlets, and in \na minute or two found, that we rose again; and \nnow appeared to be about midway between the \nEnglish and French coasts. \n\n\" At about quarter after two I found that we \nwere again descending; this induced us to \ncast out, by small parcels, all the remaining \npamphlets ; notwithstanding which I could barely \ndiscover that we rose again. We had not now \nanything left to cast away as ballast in future, \nexcepting the wings, apparatus, and ornaments \nor the Car with our cloaths, and a few little \narticles ; but as a counterpart to such a situation \nwe here had a most enchanting and alluring \nview of the French coast. \n\n\" At about half past two I found we were again \ndescending very rapidly, the lower pole of the \nBalloon next to us having collapsed very much, \nso that the balloon did not appear to be three \nfourths distended with gaz. We immediately \nthrew out all the little things we had with us \nsuch as biscuits apples &c and, after that, one \nof our oars or wings; but still descending, we \ncast away the other wing, and then the governail ; \nhaving likew^ise had the precaution, for fear \nof accidents, while the Balloon was filling, partly \nto loosen and make it go easy, I now succeeded \nin attempting to reach without the Car, and \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 305 \n\nunscrewing the moulinet, with all the apparatus \nI likewise cast that into the sea. Notwithstand- \ning which, the Balloon not rising, we cut away \nall the lining and ornaments both within and \non the outside of the Car, and, in like manner \nthrew them into the sea; after which we cast \naway the only bottle we had taken with us, \nwhich, with its descent appeared to force out a \nconsiderable steam like smoke with a hissing \nor rushing noise; and when it struck the water \nwe very sensibly (the instant before we heard \nthe sound) felt the force of the shock on our Car; \nit appearing to have fallen directly perpendicular \nto us, although we had passed a considerable \nway during its descent. \n\n\"As we did not yet ascend we were obliged, \nthough very unwillingly, to throw away our \nanchors and cords; but still approaching the \nsea we began to strip ourselves, and cast away \nour clothing, M. Blanchard first throwing away \nhis extra coat, with his surtout; after w^hich I \ncast away my only coat ; and then M. Blanchard \nhis other coat and trowsers; We then put on \nand adjusted our cork-jackets and prepared for \nthe event. \n\n\" We appeared about this time to be about \nthree quarters of the distance towards the \nFrench shore and we were now fallen so low, as \nto be beneath the plane of the French Cliffs. \nWe were then preparing to get up into our slings \n\n\n306 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwhen I found the mercury in the Barometer \nagain falling and looking around soon observed \nthat we were rising and that the pleasing view \nof France was enlarging and opening to us every \nmoment, as we ascended, so as to overlook the \nhigh grounds. I judged that we were at this \ntime about four or five miles from the shore and \nappeared to approach it fast. We soon had a \nfine view of Calais and we now ascended to a \nmuch greater height than at any former period \nof our voyage.\" \n\nThey had turned to the southwest, however, \nand were approaching a high forest! \" This \nappeared to be more extensive than it was prob- \nable we should be able to pass entirely over so \nwe cast away one cork jacket and soon after it \nthe other, which almost immediately checked \nand altered the angle of our descent. We had \nnow approached so near to the tops of the trees \nof the forest as to discover that they were very \nlarge and rough and that we were descending \nwith great velocity towards them; from which \ncircumstances and from our direction at this \ntime, ... I felt the necessity of casting away \nsomething to alter our course.\" The expedient \nwhich was then adopted by these venturous \nvoyagers, who had nothing else left to throw \noverboard, was one which would never have \noccurred to the mind of any person except a \nphysician. The plan, when adopted, proved to \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 307 \n\nbe effective, liowever, for the ballast supplied \n\" from within ourselves \" as Jeffries puts it, \nso lightened the balloon that instead of being \nforced hard against the particularly high trees \nthen imminent \" we passed along near them in \nsuch a manner as enabled me to catch hold \nof the topmost branches of one of them, and \nthereby arrest the farther Progress of the Bal- \nloon.\" \n\nAt a little before four o'clock, therefore, the \ntwo men, who were now very cold and stiff, \ndescended \" tranquilly to the surface of the \nground,\" near the spot celebrated in history for \nthe famous interview between Henry the Eighth, \nKing of England, and Francis the First, King \nof France. A curious monument with a balloon- \nlike ball on its apex was later erected by public \nauthority upon this spot in commemoration of \nJeffries' interesting trip. Blanchard was re- \nwarded for his share in this exploit by a gift \nfrom his king of two thousand four hundred \ndollars and a pension of two hundred and forty \ndollars. But, for some reason or other, he \nswore vengeance upon Jeffries and when he \ncame to Philadelphia, in ITO'^, to make balloon \nascensions, he took a very public manner of \ninsulting the man who had been his companion \non the famous voyage across the Channel. He \nemployed Fielding, the best coachmaker of \nPhiladelphia, to build him a vehicle that was \n\n\n308 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nto go without horses, the machinery of which \nwas worked by a man standing on the footboard \nbehind, who, by the alternate pressure of his \nfeet, set the wheels going and expanded the \nwings of an eagle, which thus seemed to draw the \ncarriage along in its flight. On the panels of \nthis carriage, which was exliibited in all the \nlarge towns of the United States, Blanchard \ncaused to be painted a picture of Jeffries in the \nballoon, holding a bottle of brandy to his mouth. \nA motto beneath intimated that, without the \naid of this Dutch courage, the fortitude \nof the Boston doctor must, of necessity, have \nfailed. \n\nAs might be expected, however, this ill- \nadvised behavior reacted upon Blanchard rather \nthan upon Jeffries. For the latter was a re- \nnowned physician and Blanchard was known \nonly as an adventurer whom the doctor had \nrepeatedly rescued from the hands of insistent \ndebtors. In the summer of 1789, Jeffries re- \nturned to Boston and delivered the first public \nlecture on anatomy ever given in New England. \nBut public feeling was strongly against dissec- \ntions, and he was forced by mob violence to \ndiscontinue his discourses. He continued to \ncontribute to the journals of the day, however, \narticles on this subject as well as about aerial \ntravel, and until his death, in 1819, he was \ndeferred to constantly by people of a scientific \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 309 \n\nturn of mind. With the old ladies of Boston, \nwho called him \" Jefi'ers \" and delightedly \nexchanged with him their latest news and gossip, \nhe was a great favorite until the last. \n\n\nCHAPTER XIII \n\nTHE BEGINNINGS OF LITERATURE AND MUSIC \n\nA FAIRLY good index to the men and \nwomen writers of the Revokitionary period, \nand of the years immediately following, \nmight be made from a bibliography of those who \nhave been quoted in this volume. Governor \nHutchinson, for instance, was a historian with- \nout consulting whom no one can hope to under- \nstand the events of which he was a part. His \nbooks are, indeed, the best of him, and it is very \ngreatly to his credit that he kept his narrative \njudicial, even when he himself was an abused \nfigure in the Massachusetts whose story he was \ntelling. \n\nWithout John Adams's writings we should \nbe much the poorer, also. Occasionally, he \nlighted up a gloomy epoch with a bit of vivid \ncoloring which shows that, in a later time, he \nmight have earned a good income from his pen. \nHis description of the scene at the old State \nHouse, that day when the Writs of Assistance \nwere being argued, is deservedly famous. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 311 \n\nThe press, in the pre-Revolutionary period, \nwas pretty dull reading. There appears to have \nbeen nothing like the joy in authorship which \nobtained in the days when Benjamin Franklin \nhelped his brother James to get out their trouble- \nsome sheet. Richard Draper, who from 1762 \nto 1774 conducted the News-Letter, with its \nnumerous combinations, was on the side of the \nCrown and, during the occupation of Boston \nby the British, this paper, issued by his widow, \nis the only one to be found. The Boston Gazette \nof Edes and Gill, to which the patriots contrib- \nuted, was full enough of incitement to rebellion, \nbut it is heavy reading to-day none the less. \nThe Massachusetts Spy, published by Isaiah \nThomas, a young man with the real journalistic \ngift, is a considerably livelier sheet; it was so \nlively, in fact, that Thomas had to pack off to \nWorcester just before the affair at Lexington. \nThe Independerit Chronicle And Universal Ad- \nvertiser Was the sheet to which Samuel Adams \ntirelessly contributed. It was published on \nSchool Street, \" next door to Oliver Cromwell's \ntavern.\" \n\nOf the newspapers which flourished after the \nRevolution, the Massachusetts Centinal A^id \nRepublican Journal is far and away the most \ninteresting. Its first number appeared March \n24, 1784 and, for more than forty years, it con- \ntinued to be brought out by Major Benjamin \n\n\n312 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nRussell, its original editor. It contained a \ngreat deal of what we should call to-day general \nmiscellany, and it set the fashion of presenting \nthis matter under very alluring headlines. Gold- \nsmith's \" Deserted Village \" ran in the Centinal \nunder the department caption, \" Tlie Helicon \nReservoir! \" For a time there was very little of \na newsy flavor about the sheet. Boston was a \ndull place just then, and its chief paper made no \neffort to conceal the fact. The first ripple on \nthe surface appears to have been occasioned \nby the establishment of the Cincinnati, which \nthough as harmless as any Daughters of the \nRevolution chapter of our own time raised, in \nthe minds of the apprehensive, a bitter fear lest \nthe time should speedily come \" when the \nwhole remaining body of the people would be \nstyled Plebians.\" The Centinal, thereupon, \npoured oil on the waters by reminding the \nalarmists \" that his Excellency, George Washing- \nton Esq., is president of the society, — a cir- \ncumstance that greatly recommends it.\" \n\nIn 1787 Mr. Russell made what was probably \nthe first systematic attempt at reporting for any \nBoston newspaper. He had never studied \nstenography and the more easily to wiite down \nwhat was said he took the pulpit in the meeting- \nhouse where the debate was being held for his \nreporting desk. This shocked the puritanical \nnotions of some, and a stand was fitted up for \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 313 \n\nhim in another place. Major Russell confesses \nin his published account of this meeting that he \ngot so interested in the speech-making that he \nkept forgetting to write down what was said. \nIt was Russell, by the by, who, on the occasion \nof President Monroe's visit to Boston, in 1817, \nfirst used in any place the famous phrase, \" an \nera of good feeling.\" \n\nThe first daily in Boston dates from 1813; \non March third of that year appeared the Boston \nDaily Advertiser, published by W. W. Clapp \nand edited by Horatio Bigelow. Mr. Bigelow \nremained the editor scarcely more than a year, \nhowever, the paper passing on April 6, 1814, \ninto the hands of Nathan Hale, who soon made \nit one of the leading newspapers of the country. \n\nSeveral women writers come to the front soon \nafter the Revolution, one of them a real genius, — \nthough she was a slave. The general attitude \ntowards women who wrote had been well ex- \npressed by Anne Bradstreet's lines penned, in \nthe middle of the seventeenth century, as the \nprologue to her book, \" The Tenth Muse: '* \n\n\n\" I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, \nWho says my hand a needle better fits; \nA poet's pen all scorn I thus would wrong. \nFor such despite they cast on female wits, \nIf what I do prove well, it won't advance; \nThey'll say 'tis stolen, or else it was by chance,\" \n\n\n314 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThe last three lines seem to me very good work, \nfar better than anything Phillis Wheatley ever \nwrote. Yet she is the genius of our present \nperiod. A native of Africa, she was brought to \nthis country and sold as a slave in the year 1761. \nShe was at this time a child of about seven, and \nwhen exhibited for sale in the slave market of \nthe town, wore only a piece of old carpet \nwrapped about her. Yet she was bought at \nonce by John Wlieatley, a prosperous tailor of \nthe time, for his wife, who wished to obtain a \nyoung negress. The Wlieatleys already owned \nseveral slaves, \" but the females of them were \ngetting something beyond the active periods of \nlife,\" says the chronicle. \n\nMrs. Wheatley herself therefore visited the \nslave market on the day Phillis was put up, and \nchose the frail child from among several robust, \nhealthy young women, led to this decision by \nthe humble and modest demeanor, as well as \nby the interesting features of the little girl. \n\nFrom the very first, Phillis was treated with \nuncommon kindness. Though upon her pur- \nchase by the Wheatleys she could not speak the \nEnglish language, she soon gave indications of \nremarkable intelligence, and was frequently \nseen endeavoring to make letters upon the wall \nwith a piece of chalk or charcoal. \n\nNot long after the child's first introduction \nto the family, a daughter of the house undertook \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 315 \n\nto teach her to read and write. And so astonish- \ning was the progress made by the little black \ngirl that all thought of setting her at menial \noccupations was speedily abandoned. She was \nnot even allowed to associate with the other \ndomestics of her own color and condition. \n\nAs Phillis increased in years, her mind de- \nveloped as it had early promised that it would, \nand she soon attracted the attention of the \nliterary people of the time, who loaned her books \nand assisted her in the study of Latin, which had \ngreat attractions for her. Clergymen and others \nof high standing frequently visited her; but, \nnotwithstanding the attention she received, and \nthe distinction with which she was treated, she \nnever ceased to be the same modest, gentle \nappealing negress that had won Mrs. Wlieatley's \nheart. \n\nThe family made her one of themselves. She \nsat at their table and was invited with them to \nthe social functions of the day. But always, \naway from the Wheatley home, she declined, \nthough constantly requested, to sit at the table \nwith the white folks. Asking that a side table \nmight be laid for her, she dined modestly apai t. \n\nWhen Phillis was sixteen she was received as \na member of the church worshipping in our Old \nSouth Meeting-House, and that same year it \nwas that she wrote on the death of the clerg} man, \nthe Rev. George Wliitefield, one of her most \n\n\n316 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nremarkable poems. Mr. Whitefield, who was \na native of England and a distinguished preacher, \nhad been chaplain to the Countess of Hunting- \nton. This last fact it is to which reference is \nmade in the concluding stanza of the poem, here \ngiven entire, because it is very rare as well as \n!)ecause it possesses intrinsic interest: \n\n\nWe hear no more the music of thy tongue; \nHail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne, \nPossesst of glory, hfe and bliss unknown; \nWe hear no more the music of thy tongue; \nThy wonted auditories cease to throng. \nThy sermons in unequalled accents flowed, \nAnd ev'ry bosom with devotion glowed; \nThou didst in strains of eloquence refined. \nInflame the heart and captivate the mind. \n\nUnhappy, we the setting sun deplore. \n\nSo glorious once, but ah ! it shines no more. \n\nBehold the prophet in his towering flight! \n\nHe leaves the earth for heaven's unmeasured height. \n\nAnd worlds unknown receive him from our sight. \n\nThere Whitefield wings with rapid course liis way. \n\nAnd sails to Zion through vast seas of day. \n\nThy prayers, great saint, and thine incessant cries. \n\nHave pierced the bosom of thy native skies. \n\nThou moon hast seen, and all the stars of light, ' \n\nHow he has wrestled with his God by night. \n\nHe prayed that grace in ev'ry heart might dwell; \n\nHe longed to see America excel; \n\nHe charged its youth that ev'ry grace divine \n\nShould with full lustre in their conduct shine. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 317 \n\nThat Saviour, which his soul did first receive, \nThe greatest gift that ev'n a God can give. \nHe freely offered to the num'rous throng. \nThat on his lips with list'ning pleasure hung. \n\n\" Take him, ye wretched, for your only good, \nTake him, ye star\\ing sinners, for your food; \nYe thirsty, come to this life-giving stream. \nYe preachers, take him for your joyful theme; \nTake him, my dear Americans,\" he said, \n\n\" Be your complaints on his kind bosom laid: \nTake him, ye Africans, he longs for you; \nImpartial Saviour is his title due: \nWashed in the fountain of redeeming blood. \nYou shall be sons, and kings, and priests to God.\" \nGreat Countess, we Americans revere \nThy name and mingle in thy grief sincere; \nNew England deeply feels, the orphans mourn \nTheir more than father will no more return. \nBut though arrested by the hand of death, \nWhitefield no more exerts his lab'ring breath. \nYet let us view him in the eternal skies. \nLet ev'ry heart to this bright vision rise ; \nWhile the tomb, safe, retains its sacred trust, \nTill life di\\'ine re-animates his dust. \n\nThe manner in wliicli Pliillis wrote this and \nother poems is interesting: \" She was allowed,\" \nsays her biographer in a (juaint little volume now \nalmost impossible to find, \" and even encouraged \nto follow the leading of her own genius; but \nnothing was forced upon her, nothing suggested \nor placed before her as a lure ; her literary efforts \n\n\n318 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwere altogether the natural workings of her own \nmind. \n\n\" She did not have the power, it is curious to \nnote, of retaining the creations of her own fancy \nfor a long time in her mind. If during the vigil \nof a wakeful night, she amused herself by weav- \ning a tale, she knew nothing of it in the morning. \nIt had vanished in the land of dreams. Her kind \nmistress indulged her with a light, and in the \ncold season with a fire in her apartment during \nthe night. The light was placed upon a table \nat her bedside with writing materials, that if \nanything occurred to her after she had retired, \nshe might without rising or taking cold secure \nthe swift- winged fancy ere it fled.\" \n\nPhillis had always been frail, and this lack of \nruggedness her devotion to books not improb- \nably increased. For by this time she knew \nintimately the Old and New Testament, Pope's \nHomer and the stories of heathen mythology, \nas well as ancient and modern geography, \nastronomy and ancient history. In the winter \nof 1773 the young girl's health was so delicate \nthat her physician advised a sea voyage. And, \na son of the family being about to go to England \non business, it was arranged that Phillis should \naccompany him and his wife. \n\nThe attention that the young slave received \nin London offers one of the most remarkable \ninstances that literary history can show of tribute \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 319 \n\non the part of an aristocracy to genius. She \nwas presented to Lady Huntington, to Lord \nDartmouth, and to Mr. Thornton, another \nbenefactor of Dartmouth College, as well as to \nmany other people of distinction. Court was not \nbeing held at St. James at that time, for it was \nrather late in the season when Phillis arrived in \nLondon, but this alone prevented her presenta- \ntion to the young monarch, George III, to \nwhom on the repeal of the Stamp Act five years \nbefore she had addressed one of her most inter- \nesting poems. \n\nIt was during the visit to London that her \npoems were first published by Archibald Bell. \nThe small volume was dedicated to the Countess \nof Huntington, and contained as a frontispiece \na striking likeness of Phillis herself (here repro- \nduced). To the book was prefixed a statement \nfrom her master that the girl's history was really \nas has been here related, and a note to the public \nattesting that Governor Thomas Hutchinson, \nLieutenant-Governor Oliver, John Hancock, \nthe Hon. Harrison Otis, the Hon. James Bowdoin, \nthe Rev. Samuel Mather and others of like stand- \ning in Boston vouched for Phillis as the true \nauthor of the poems attributed to her. And \nthis in spite of the fact, they wrote, that she was \n\" a young negro girl, who was but a few years \nsince brought out an uncultivated barbarian \nfrom Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, \n\n\n320 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nunder the disadvantage of serving as a slave in \na family in this town.\" \n\nBefore many weeks, however, the illness of \nher kind friend and mistress, Mrs. Wheatley, \nrecalled Phillis to Boston. And the death of \nthis estimable lady and her husband soon fol- \nlowing, dark days began to come for the gifted \nslave. The son of the house had settled in Lon- \ndon, and the daughter had a few years before \nbecome the wife of the Rev. John Lathrop, \npastor of the Second Church in Boston. She it \nwas who became the owner of Phillis upon the \nWheatleys' death. It would appear, however, \nthat she speedily gave her young friend, for so \nshe regarded her, her freedom. For when Phillis \nwas married, as she soon was, she was styled \" a \nfree negro.\" \n\nPerhaps the most famous of all Phillis' poems \nwas that written about this period of her life \n(1775) to Washington, then in Cambridge. The \ntribute in question drew from the great general \na brief, but appreciative, note, and the poem was \nduly published in the Pen7isylvania Magazine \nor American Monthly Museum for April, 1776. \nFor years this highly interesting poem was lost, \nbut it was finally uncovered in 1851, when the \nWashington papers were transferred to our own \nBoston Athenaeum. \n\nMeanwhile Phillis had found the world a \nrather hard place for a free negro of poetic gifts. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 321 \n\nA letter to a colored friend dated Boston, May \n29, 1778, runs: \" The vast variety of scenes that \nhave passed before us these three years past \nwill, to a reasonable mind, serve to convince \nus of the uncertain duration of all things tem- \nporal. . , . Du'ect your letters under cover to \nMr. John Peters in Queen street.\" \n\nThis John Peters was destined to become the \nbrilliant, but unworthy, partner of Phillis' \nwoman sorrows. He is called a '* respectable \ncolored man who kept a grocery in Court street, \nhad a very handsome person and good manners, \nwore a wig, carried a cane and quite acted out \nthe ' gentleman.' \" \n\nThat he made love in a very persuasive fashion \nto the gifted Phillis one may well believe, for she \nsoon married him, and was as soon repentant \nfor such a step. Ere long, too, there Were three \nchildren to be cared for, and no money for this \npurpose. The husband would not work at any \nlowly employment, and his business had quite \nfailed under the stress of war times. \n\nThus it was that the woman whose gifts had \nonce made her feted and honored in England, \nas well as in America, died in squalor. In 1784 \nher husband had become so shiftless and im- \nprovident that he was forced to relieve himself \nof debt by an imprisonment in the county jail, \nwhile Phillis earned her own subsistence and \nthat of her remaining child by laboring in a com- \n\n\n322 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmon negro boarding house in the western part \nof the town. When liberated Peters worked \nas a journeyman baker, then he attempted \nto practise law, and finally he imposed upon \nthe credulous by pretending to be a physi- \ncian. \n\nIt was in December, 1784, that Phillis and \nthe last child were carried to her final earthly \nresting place, and not one of the friends of her \nprosperity was there to follow her, for they had \nnot been told by Peters of her death. All that \nis known of her death and burial may be \nsummed up in the following notice published on \nthe Thursday succeeding her decease in the Inde- \npendent Chronicle: \" Last Lord's day died Mrs. \nPhillis Peters (formerly Phillis Wheatley), aged \n31, known to the literary world by her celebrated \nmiscellaneous poems. Her funeral is to be this \nafternoon, at 4 o'clock, from the house lately \nimproved by Mr. Todd, nearly opposite Dr. \nBulfinch's, at West Boston, where her friends \nand acquaintances are desired to attend.\" \n\nThe house thus referred to was situated on \nor near the present site of the Revere House in \nBowdoin Square. Where the unhappy young \nwoman was buried has never been known. But \nher \" Poems On Various Subjects Religious And \nMoral \" are much sought to-day by collectors, \nsingle copies of the book having sold recently \nfor twenty-five dollars. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 323 \n\nAnother literary woman of exceeding interest \nis Mercy Otis Warren, sister of James Otis the \npatriot, to whom that famous man wrote in \n1766: \" This you may depend on, no man ever \nloved a sister better, & among all my conflicts I \nnever forget yt I am endeavoring to serve you \nand yours.\" Their family home was in Barn- \nstable on Cape Cod, and Alice Brown, who has \nwritten very sympathetically of Mrs. Warren, \nhas likened the sweet relationship between these \ntwo to that of Maggie Tulliver and Tom. \" As \nMaggie trotted about after Tom, adoring, \nworshipful, glad of a glance, so the little Cape \ngirl followed and imitated her big brother. They \nwere more or less alike in temperament, — \nardent, mobile, brilliant, though the girl must \nhave had a stronger balance wheel to fit her for \nthe ills of life.\" \n\nCertainly, if we may judge from what she \nwrote as well as from what she was, Mercy \nWarren had a very finely poised mind. Her \nparticular gift was what was then highly appre- \nciated under the name of Satire. To-day some \nof her paragraphs fall rather flat, but this one, \nto a young woman with a taste for books might \nalmost have been written in all seriousness to-day \nby an editor of a *' Woman's Page.\" It would \nseem, therefore, to be pretty good as satire : \" If \nyou have a taste for the study of History, let me \nurge you not to indulge it, lest the picture of \n\n\n324 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhuman nature in all ages of the world should \ngive your features too serious a cast.\" \n\nMercy Otis herself did not marry until 1754, \nwhen she was twenty-six and that in those days \nmeant that she was already almost an \" old \nmaid.\" But she and James Warren were very \nhappy together for many years, and in their \nhome at Plymouth she brought up several \nhealthy happy children besides writing a num- \nber of respectable \" works.\" From her \" His- \ntory of the Revolution,\" which is in many ways \na really valuable book, I have already quoted in \ndescribing the character of Hancock. But her \n\" Poems Dramatic and Miscellaneous,\" pub- \nlished in 1790, and about which a good deal is \nsaid in many chapters on post-revolutionary \nliterature, is a very tiresome offering, chiefly \noccupied by two long and dull tragedies: \" Tlie \nSack of Rome \" and \" The Ladies of Castile.\" \nA poem of hers, written on the Boston Tea \nParty and called the \" Squabble of the Sea \nNymphs,\" has the faults common to all her \n\" poetry.\" \n\nIt is odd to find that Mrs. Warren's friends, \nAbigail Adams and Hannah Winthrop, were \nalways beseeching her to put into verse descrip- \ntions of events much better suited to prose; \noften the very letter imploring her to poetic \neffusion Would itself be literature, though its \nwriter knew it not! Hannah Winthrop, for \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 325 \n\ninstance, who lived so near the seat of war that \nthe first shock and tumult of Lexington day left \nher covered with dust and smoke, wrote to Mrs. \nWai-ren a wonderful letter about her flight from \nCambridge, begging that the moving scene be \ndepicted as it ought by the literary lady's \n\" poetic pencil.\" Yet I challenge any pencil to \ndo better than Mrs. Winthrop herself in the last \nparagraph of the following: \" Time will never \nerase the horrors of the midnight Cry preceding \nthe Bloody Massacre at Lexington, when we \nwere roused from the benign slumbers of the \nseason, by beat of drum & ringing of Bell, with \nthe dire alarm That a thousand of the Troops \nof George the third were gone forth to murder \nthe peaceful inhabitants of the surrounding \nvillages, a few hours with the dawning day \nConvinced us the bloody purpose was executing. \nThe platoon firing assuring us the rising sun \nmust witness the Bloody Carnage. \n\n\" Not knowing what the event would be at \nCambridge at the return of these bloody ruffians, \nand seeing another Brigade despatched to the \nAssistance of the former. Looking with the \nferocity of barbarians, it seemed necessary to \nretire to some place of safety till the calamity \nwas passed. My partner had been a fortnight \nconfind by illness. After dinner we went out \nnot knowing whither we went, we were directed \nto a place calld fresh pond about a mile from the \n\n\n326 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ntown but what a distressd house did we find \nthere filld with women whose husbands were gone \nforth to meet the Assailants, 70 or 80 of these \nwith numbers of infant children crying and \nagonizing for the Fate of their husbands. \n\n*' In addition to this scene of distress we were \nfor some time in sight of the Battle, the glistening \ninstruments of death proclaiming by an incessant \nfire, that much blood must be shed, that many \nwidowd & orphand ones be left as monuments \nof that persecuting Barbarity of British Tyranny. \nAnother uncomfortable night we passed some \nnodding in their Chairs, others resting their \nweary limbs on the floor. \n\n\" The Welcome harbingers of day give notice \nof its dawning light but brings us news it is \nunsafe to return to Cambridge, as the enemy \nwere advancing up the River & firing on the \ntown, to stay in this place was impracticable. . . . \nThus with precipitancy were we driven to the \ntown of Andover, following some of our Ac- \nquaintance, five of us to be Conveyd with one \npoor tired horse & chaise. Thus we began \nour passage alternately walking and riding, the \nroads filld with frighted women & Children \nSome in carts with their tatterd furniture, others \non foot fleeing into the woods. But what added \ngreatly to the horror of the scene was our passing \nthro the Bloody field at Menotomy which was \nstrewd with the mangled Bodies. We met one \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 327 \n\naffectionate Father with a Cart looking for his \nmurdered son & picking up his Neighbours who \nhad fallen in Battle, in order for their Burial.\" \n\nYet this was not thought to be literature. \nPhoebus and other gentlemen of his class must \nadorn the pages then deemed worthy of print. \nAbigail Adams's Letters, without which we \nshould be infinitely poorer, were, for a long time, \nvalued only by her husband and family. How \nwell Mrs. Warren might have written if she had \nforgotten that Satire and Poetry were her \" line \" \nwe may guess from one or two sentences turned \noff with no thought of \" production.\" One is \nin defence of a woman of brains who had married \na much younger man: \"Probably Mrs. Ma- \ncaulay's independence of spirit led her to suppose \nshe might associate for the remainder of life \nwith an inoffensive, obliging youth with the same \nimpunity a gentleman of three score and ten \nmight marry a damsel of fifteen! \" Another is \nin regard to Lord Chesterfield's strictures in his \n\" Letters \" upon women. \" I believe in this \nage of refinement and philosophy few men in- \ndulge a peculiar asperity with regard to the sex \nin general, but such as have been unfortunate \nin their acquaintance, unsuccessful in their \naddress or sowered from repeated disappoint- \nments.\" Perhaps, after this, we may grant that \nMrs. Warren really had a gift of Satire. \n\nOf the literary weeklies the New England \n\n\n328 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nGalaxy, established in 1817 by Joseph T. \nBuckingham, was the best, though the Satur- \nday Evening Gazette antedated it by five years \nand survived it by more than seventy-five. \nThe earliest of the class newspapers were those \ndevoted to the interests of the various religious \ndenominations. The idea of such sheets origi- \nnated in the mind of Nathaniel Willis, son of \nthe printer of the Boston Chronicle and himself \na printer. \" I talked with Christians in Boston \nabout it,\" he writes, \" but many, though they \nliked the plan, objected to it as impracticable. \n. . . Dr. Grifiin said he had never heard of \nsuch a thing as religion in a newspaper. I said \nI had some experience in publishing a newspaper \nand believed it could be done if Christians would \nencourage it.\" So, In 1816, Willis established \nthe Boston Recorder, the representative of the \nOrthodox Congregationalists. The Baptists were \nnext in the field with the Watchman ajid Reflector \nwhich dates from 1819, and which, perhaps, \nreached a larger circulation than any of its \nrivals. It is still issued to-day in Boston under \nthe first half of its original name. The Christian \nRegister, established in 1821 to be the organ of \nthe Unitarians, also survives to this day. \n\nThe Massachusetts Historical Society, founded \nin 1790, published its collections at first in a \nweekly periodical called the American Apollo. \nJeremy Belknap was determined from the begin- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 329 \n\nning that the society organized chiefly through \nhis enthusiasm, should be \"an active not a \npassive literary body, should not lie waiting, \nlike a bed of oysters, for the tide of communica- \ntion to flow in, but should seek and find, to \npreserve and communicate, literary intelligence \nespecially in the historical way.\" Tliat the \nsociety has admirably lived up to this ideal \nevery writer who has to do with historical \nmaterial can testify. From 1789 dates the \nMassachusetts Magazine or Monthly Museum \nof Knowledge and Rational Entertainment — \na^^'f ul title ! After eight years of sluggish life this \nponderous undertaking died a natural death. \nA few years later its work was taken up, though \nin a difl^erent spirit, by an association of literary \ngentlemen calling themselves the Anthology \nClub, from which club sprang the Boston Athe- \nnaeum. There is a highly interesting story here \nbut as it does not particularly belong in a chapter \non Boston's literary undertakings I will pass on \nto mention that one member of the Anthology \nClub, William Tudor, began, in May, 1815, \nthe publication of the North American Review, \nvdiich for more than fifty years maintained its \n[jlace at the very head of the periodical literature \nof the country. \n\nBut what of other works by native authors ? \n\\^^iat of novels ? Were there none being pub- \nlished during all these years ? Very few, truth \n\n\n330 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nto tell. Hannah Adams, the first woman in \nAmerica to devote herself to a life of literary \nstudy and production turned out several pon- \nderous tomes which no one ever reads now- \nadays, and Mrs. Susannah Rowson, who was \nan actress as well as an author, wrote \" Charlotte \nTemple,\" a book always linked in memory with \nthe similarly sentimental tale, \" The Coquette, \nor the History of Eliza Wliarton,\" produced by \nMrs. John Foster of Brighton in 1785. \n\nThe best writing of the time, as has already \nbeen hinted, was not deliberately given to the \npublic. The letters, diaries and journals, by \nwhich we are enabled to humanize what, from \nits printed records, would appear to be a very \nstilted and uncongenial period, were written \ncon amore by men and women, who, for the most \npart, had no thought of posterity when they put \ntheir pens to paper. For this we cannot be too \ngrateful, I think, after we have compared their \nproductions with those which Bostonians of the \ntime wrote with the printer in mind. \n\nFor the music of the period very little space \nwill suffice. Music scarcely had a voice in Boston \nuntil William Billings, a tanner by trade, — \nwho had been born in our town, October 7, \n1746, — made rude attempts to put into har- \nmony the songs which he heard in his own soul. \nBillings was an eccentric and uncouth character, \neasily ridiculed, even in his own day. He was \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 331 \n\ndeformed in person, blind in one eye, untidy in \ndress, with one leg shorter than the other. He \nis said to have chalked down his earliest com- \npositions upon sides of leather in the shop \nwhere he worked. But his music always had \na spice of patriotism in it (a quality much prized \nat the time of the Revolution), and so greatly \ndid the colonists like his work that the strains \nof his inspiring tunes were heard from every \npipe in the New England ranks and led the way \nto victory on many a hard fought field. \n\nGovernor Samuel Adams took great interest \nin the enthusiastic choir singer and composer \nand helped his work to find the audience that \nit deserved. Real patriots, indeed, could scarcely \nfail to admire the earnestness of the man. His \n\" Lamentation Over Boston \" appropriated \nboldly the beautiful 127th psalm, which he \nemployed to lament the fact that Boston was in \nBritish hands. It begins: \" By the rivers of \nWatertown we sat down ; yea, we wept when we \nremembered Boston.\" In the same strain he \ncontinues: \" If I forget thee, O Boston — - then \nlet my numbers cease to flow, then be my muse \nunkind; then let my tongue forget to move.\" \n\n\" Retrospect,\" *' Independence,\" and \" Co- \nlumbia,\" as well as verses set to the air of \" Ches- \nter \" — this last very popular in the camps of \nthe Revolutionary army — were other of Bil- \nlings's productions. In 1778 he published an \n\n\n332 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nabridgement of his \" New England Psalm \nSinger,\" which came to be known as \" Billings' \nBest,\" and certainly was a great improvement \non the other work. In 1779 appeared \" Music \nin America,\" containing thirty-two verses from \nhis previous books, eleven old European tunes \nand thirty -one new and original compositions. \nIn 1781 \" The Psalm Singer's Amusement \" \nwas given to the world and became exceedingly \npopular. \n\nIn spite of his popularity, Billings was always \npoor, as may be proved by the following appeal \nprinted in the Massachusetts Magazine of August, \n1792: \" Addressed to the benevolent of every \ndenomination: The distressing situation of Mr. \nBillings' family has so sensibly operated on the \nminds of the committee as to induce their assist- \nance in the intended publication of his work \nby subscription.\" \n\nBillings is said to have been the first to intro- \nduce the violoncello into New England churches, \na great step toward the eventual introduction of \nthe organ. He was also probably the first to \nuse the pitch pipe to \" set the tune.\" He died \nin Boston, September 26, 1800, and published \nmusic almost to the last. His is probably one \nof the unmarked graves on Boston Common. \nIt is generally conceded that Billings would have \nwritten really well had he had a musical educa- \ntion, Dr. Louis Elson has said of him that he \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 333 \n\n\" broke the ice which was congeaHng New \nEngland's music — for which America owes \nhim a great debt of gratitude in spite of his few \nthousand errors in harmony.\" \n\nOliver Holden, author of \" Coronation,\" be- \n\n\nOLD HOUSE IN CHARLESTOWN, WHERE OLIVER HOLDEN LIVED AND \nWROTE \" CORONATION \" \n\n\nlongs almost to Billings's own period. He was \nborn in Shirley, Massachusetts, in 1765, but \nin 1788 came to Charlestown, where he worked \nat his trade as carpenter. Musician though he \nwas by nature, he was a good business man, too, \nand by reason of his real estate operations, he \n\n\n334 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsoon became possessed of considerable wealth. \nThe fine mansion-house which he built on Pearl \nStreet, in Charlestown, and in which he wrote \n\" Coronation,\" is still standing. For many years \nit was the home of the Thomas Doane family \n(founders of Doane College, Crete, Nebraska), \nwho carefully cherished its Holden traditions. \n\nThe church for the dedication of which in \nMay, 1801, \" Coronation \" was composed, stood \nalmost in front of Oliver Holden's house, and \nwas occupied until 1810 by the Baptists of \nCharlestown. \n\nIn addition to being a house builder and a \nmusician, Mr. Holden was for many years a \npreacher for a religious society known as the \nPuritan Church. The services of this sect were \nlike those of other Congregational bodies except \nthat, for a while at least, the sacrament of the \nLord's Supper was observed every Sunday. For \nhis connection here, as well as by reason of his \nmusic, Mr. Holden was greatly esteemed in the \nlatter part of the eighteenth century. His first \nbook of music, \" The American Harmony,\" \nwas published in 1793. Then, in 1795, appeared \n\" The Massachusetts Compiler,\" and in 1797 \n\" The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony.\" \nThis last named work was printed by Isaiah \nThomas of Worcester from movable types \nbought in Europe, the last to be so bought, \nfor use in this country. Mr. Holden re- \n\n\nOLIVER HOLDEN AND THE ORGAN Ul'ON WHICH HE HAU.^IOXIZED \n\n\" CORONATION.\" \n\nPage 334 \n\n\nH \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 335 \n\nmained in Charlestown until his death (Sep- \ntember 4, 1844) at the age of seventy-nine. His \n*' Coronation \" is probably the best known \nAmerican hymn ever written. \n\nThe chief glory of his own day, however, \ncame to Holden because he wrote the words \nand music of the hymn sung by the Independent \nMusical Society, of which he was director, \nwhen General Washington visited Boston dur- \ning his administration. The song was rendered \nby this large chorus from the top of a triumphal \narch, to the president standing on the balcony \nbuilt out from the Old State House. Its words, \nas well as its music, are interesting and quaint: \n\nGeneral Washington, the hero's come. \nEach heart exulting hears the sound; \nSee, thousands their deliverer throng. \nAnd shout him welcome all around. \nNow in full chorus bursts the song. \nAnd shout the deeds of Washington. \n\nThis ode was performed a second time at the \nWorld's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in \n1893. \n\nJohn Howard Payne, author of *' Home \nSweet Home,\" belongs to the Boston of this \nperiod also. But since it was as actor that he \nfirst earned fame I have told the romantic story \nof his life in the later chapter on the early \ntheatres and their stars. \n\n\nCHAPTER XIV \n\nSOME FAMOUS FRENCH VISITORS TO THE TOWN \n\nTHE uses of hospitality in the early years \nof the young Republic can scarcely be \nover-estimated. And particularly im- \nportant to friendly relations with the valuable \nally which Franklin had labored so hard to \nsecure for us were the entertainments made in \nBoston and elsewhere, while the war was still \nin progress, for the French fleet and the visitors \nwho came in their train. When Admiral D'Es- \ntaing with twelve sail of the line, four frigates and \nfour thousand troops sailed into the Delaware, \nbringing with him M. Gerard, the ambassador. \nCongress prepared a great reception at Phila- \ndelphia, at which Samuel Adams was master \nof ceremonies. But an even more magnificent \nentertainment came when Hancock welcomed \nthe French to his house in Boston. There is \nextant a humorous letter to Henry Quincy, then \nin Providence, which shows that the host of this \noccasion was a little perturbed at the prospect \nof the impending drain upon his resources : \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 337 \n\n\" Monday noon, Aug. 30, 1779 \n\" Dear Sir — The Philistines are coming \nupon me on Wednesday next. To be serious, \nthe Ambassadors, &c., &c., are to dine with \nme & I have nothing to give them, or from the \npresent prospect of our market, do I see that I \nshall be able to get anything in Town. I beg \nyou to recommend to my man Harry where he \nmay get chickens, geese, hams. Partridges, \nmutton, &c., that will save my reputation in a \ndinner, . . . and by all means some Butter; \nBe so good as to help me and you will much \noblige me ; is there any good Mellons or Peaches \nor any good fruit near you ? . . . Can I get a \ngood Turkey; I walk*^ in Town to-day; I dine \non board the French Frigate tomorrow; so you \nsee how I have Recovered. \n\n\" God bless you; if you see any thing good at \nProvidence do Buy it for me. \n\n\" I am Your Real friend \n\n*' John Hancock.\" \n\nHowever, the visitors came, they saw, — and \nMrs. Hancock conquered. The crisis which \nshe, as a housekeeper, had to face, was no slight \none either. For when Admiral D'Estaing \naccepted the invitation to breakfast, which \nHancock sent him, he requested permission to \nbring also all his officers, to the number of three \nhundred! Now to procure in legitimate ways \n\n\n338 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmilk enough for such a multitude was impossi- \nble at such short notice, so Mrs. Hancock dis- \npatched her servants to the Common with \ndirections to milk all the cows grazing there and \nsend to her any person who complained. The \nowners were rather amused than offended at \nthis masterly stroke of housewifery, and no one \nis known to have protested. It was in describing \nthis overwhelming visitation of the French that \nMrs. Hancock said: \" the Common was be- \ndizened with lace,\" as the officers made their \nway up Beacon Hill to enjoy her hospitality. \n\nNor was this breakfast the Hancocks' only \nhospitable effort. Each day during the stay \nof the French, they entertained about forty \nofficers of the fleet at their home; on October \n29th the patriot gave them a superb ball in \nConcert Hall ; and he also defrayed the expense \nof a banquet given in Fanueil Hall to about five \nhundred of them, — though Boston got the \ncredit of the affair. There seems little question \nthat, of all the services rendered by Hancock \nto his country, this liberal entertainment of the \nFrench was the most valuable. For whereas \nthe relation between America and her allies was \nstrained when they came to Boston, his hospi- \ntality served to send the visitors away full of \ncordiality. Abigail Adams has an interesting \nletter touching the matter: \" I had only just \nbreakfasted this morning,\" she wrote to her hus- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 339 \n\nband who was then at Passy and of course \ndeeply interested in all that concerned the \nFrench in Boston, \" when I had a visit from \nMonsieur Riviere, and an ofiBcer on board the \nLanguedoc who speaks English well, the captain \nof the Zara, and six or eight oflScers from on \nboard another ship. The first gentleman dined \nwith me and spent the day. . . . The gentle- \nmen officers have made me several visits, and \nI have dined twice on board at very elegant \nentertainments. Count D'Estaing has been \nexceedingly polite to me. Soon after he arrived \nhere I received a message from him requesting \nthat I would meet him at Colonel Quincy's, as \nit was inconvenient leaving his ship for any \nlong time. I waited upon him and was very \npolitely received. Upon parting he requested \nthat the family would accompany me on board \nhis ship and dine with him the next Thursday \nwith any friends we chose to bring; and his \nbarge should come for us. We went according \nto the invitation, and were sumptuously enter- \ntained, with every delicacy that this country \nproduces, and the addition of every foreign \narticle that could render our feast splendid. \nMusic and dancing for the young folks closed \nthe day. \n\n\" The temperance of these gentlemen, the \npeaceable quiet disposition both of officers and \nmen, joined to many other virtues which they \n\n\n340 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhave exhibited during their continuance with \nus, are sufficient to make Europeans and Ameri- \ncans, too, blush at their own degeneracy of \nmanners. Not one officer has been seen the \nleast disguised with Hquor since their arrival. \nMost that I have seen appear to be gentlemen \nof family and education. I have been the more \ndesirous to take notice of them, as I cannot \nhelp saying that they have been neglected in the \ntown of Boston. Generals Heath and Hancock \n[Hancock had recently been appointed major- \ngeneral of the Massachusetts Militia] have done \ntheir part but very few, if any, private families \nhave any acquaintance with them. ...\" \n\nMr. Nathaniel Tracy, who lived at this time \nin what we now know as the Craigie-Longfellow \nhouse in Cambridge, did, however, entertain \nthese officers with attendant circumstances which \nonly the great politeness of the French could \nhave passed off pleasantly. Samuel Breck tells \nthe story in his very entertaining \" Recollec- \ntions:\" \"Before the Revolution the colonists \nhad little or no communication with France, \nso that Frenchmen were known to them only \nthrough the prejudiced medium of England. \nEvery vulgar story told by John Bull about \nFrenchmen living only on salad and frogs was \nimplicitly believed by Brother Jonathan, even \nby men of education and the first standing in \nsociety. When therefore the first French squad- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 341 \n\nron arrived at Boston, the whole town, most of \nwhom had never seen a Frenchman, ran to the \nwharf to catch a peep at the gaunt half-starved \nsoup-maigre crews. How much were my good \ntownsmen astonished when they beheld plump \nportly officers and strong vigorous sailors I They \ncould scarcely credit the thing apparent as \nit was. Did these hearty-looking people be- \nlong to the lantern-jawed spindle shank race \nof mounseers ? In a little while they' became \nconvinced that they had been deceived as to \ntheir personal appearance; but they knew, not- \nwithstanding their good looks, that they were no \nbetter than frog-eaters, because they had been \ndiscovered hunting them in the noted Frog-pond \nat the bottom of the Common. \n\n\" With this notion in his head Mr. Nathaniel \nTracy, who lived in a beautiful villa at Cam- \nbridge, made a great feast for the admiral Count \nD'Estaing and his officers. Everything was \nfurnished that could be had in the country to \nornament and give variety to the entertainment. \nMy father was one of the guests and told me \noften after that two large tureens of soup were \nplaced at the ends of the table. The admiral \nsat on the right of Tracy, and Monsieur de \nI'Etombe on the left. L'Etombe was consul of \nFrance, resident at Boston. Tracy filled a plate \nwith soup which he sent to the admiral, and the \nnext was handed to the consul. As soon as \n\n\n342 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nL'Etombe put his spoon into his plate he fished \nup a hirge frog just as green and perfect as if he \nhad hopped from the pond into the tureen. \nNot knowing at first what it was, he seized it by \none of its hind legs, and holding it up in view of \nthe whole company, discovered that was a full- \ngrown frog. As soon as he had thoroughly \ninspected it and made himself sure of the matter, \nhe exclaimed : 'Ah mon Dieul une grenouille! ' \nthen, turning to the gentleman next to him gave \nhim the frog. He received it and passed it round \nthe table. Thus the poor crapaud made the \ntour from hand to hand until it reached the \nadmiral. The company, convulsed with laugh- \nter, examined the soup plates as the servants \nbrought them, and in each was to be found a \nfrog. The uproar was universal. Meantime \nTracy kept his ladle going wondering what his \noutlandish guests meant by such extravagant \nmerriment. ' What's the matter ? ' asked he \nand raising his head, surveyed the frogs, dan- \ngling by the legs in all directions. ' Why don't \nyou eat them ? ' he exclaimed. ' If they knew \nthe confounded trouble I had to catch them in \norder to treat them to a dish of their own country \nthey would find that, with me at least, it was \nno joking matter.' Thus was poor Tracy \ndeceived by vulgar prejudice and common \nreport. He meant to regale his distinguished \nguests with fine hospitality, and had caused all \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 343 \n\nthe swamps of Cambridge to be searched, in \norder to furnish them with a generous supply \nof what he believed to be, in France a national \ndish.\" \n\nMr. Breck was agent for the French and is \nthe ** Mr. Brick \" whose name occurs so often \nin the Boston part of the Marquis de Chastel- \nlux's \" Travels in North America.\" This \ntraveller, who was an officer in the French army, \nappears to have been unremittingly entertained \nwhile in Boston. Scarcely had he arrived in \ntown when he was hurried off to the Association \nball, where he took notice of the general awk- \nwardness of the Boston dancers, and observed \nthat the ladies, though well dressed, ap- \npeared less elegant and refined than those \nhe had met in Philadelphia. Then he went \nto a club meeting at the house of Mr. Russell, \n\" an honest merchant who gave us an excellent \nreception : \n\n\" The laws of this club are not straitening, \nthe number of dishes for supper alone are \nlimited, and there must be only two of meat, \nfor supper is not the American repast. Vege- \ntables, pies and especially good wine are not \nspared. The hour of assembling is after tea, \nwhen the company play at cards, converse and \nread the public papers, and sit down to table \nbetween nine and ten. The supper was as free \nas if there had been no strangers, songs were \n\n\n344 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ngiven at table and a Mr. Stewart sung some, \nwhich were very gay with a tolerable good \nvoice. \n\n\" The nineteenth the weather was very bad. \n. . . With Mr. de Vaudreuil I went to dine with \nMr. Gushing. The Lieutenant Governor on this \noccasion perfectly supported the justly acquired \nreputation of the inhabitants of Boston, of being \nfriends to good wine, good cheer and hospitality. \nAfter dinner he conducted us into the apartment \nof his son and his daughter-in-law, with whom \nwe were invited to drink tea. For though they \ninhabited the same house with their father they \nhad a separate household, according to the \ncustom in America; where it is very rare for \nyoung people to live with their parents when \nthey are once settled in the world. . . . The \nsensible and amiable Mrs. Tudor was once more \nour centre of union. During the evening, which \nterminated in a familiar and very agreeable \nsupper at young Mrs. Bowdoin's, Mr. de Parois \nand Mr. Dumas sung different airs and duets, \nand Mrs. Wliitmore undertook the pleasure of \nthe eyes, whilst they supplied the gratification \nof our ears. \n\n\" The 20th was wholly devoted to society. \nMr. Broom gave me an excellent dinner, the \nhonours of which were performed by Mrs. \nJarvis and her sister, with as much politeness \nand attention as if they had been old and ugly. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 345 \n\nI supped with Mr. Bowdoin where I still found \nmore handsome women assembled. If I do \nnot place Mrs. Temple, Mr. Bowdoin's daughter \nin the number, it is not from want of respect, \nbut because her figure is so distinguished as to \nmake it unnecessary to pronounce her truly \nbeautiful; nor did she suffer in the comparison \nwith a gii'l of twelve years old, who was formed \nhowever to attract attention. This was neither a \nhandsome child nor a pretty woman, but rather \nan angel in disguise of a young girl ; for I am at \na loss otherwise to express the idea which young \npersons of that age convey in England and \nAmerica; which is not amongst us the age of \nBeauty and the Graces. \n\n\" They made me play at whist, for the first \ntime since my arrival in America. The cards \nwere English, that is much handsomer and \ndearer than ours, and we marked our points \nwith Louis d'ors, or six-and-thirties ; when the \nparty was finished the loss was not difficult to \nsettle; for the company was still faithful to that \nvoluntary law established in society from the \ncommencement of the troubles, which prohibited \nplaying for money during the war. Tliis law, \nhowever, was not scrupulously observed in the \nclubs, and parties made by the men amongst \nthemselves. The inhabitants of Boston, are fond \nof high play, and it is fortunate, perhaps, that \nthe war happened when it did, to moderate this \n\n\n346 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\npassion which began to be attended with danger- \nous consequences. \n\n\" On Thursday the 21st there fell so much \nsnow as to determine me to defer my departure, \nand Mr. Brick [Breck], who gave a great dinner \nto Mr. d'Aboville and the French artillery officers, \nunderstanding that I was still at Boston, invited \nme to dine, whither I went in Mr. de Vaudreuil's \ncarriage. Mr. Barrel came also to invite me to \ntea, where we went after dinner; and, as soon \nas we were disengaged hastened to return to \nMrs. Tudor's. Her husband, after frequently \nwhispering to her, at length communicated to us \nan excellent piece of pleasantry of her invention, \nwhich was a petition to the Queen, written in \nFrench, wherein, under the pretext of complain- \ning of Mr. de Vaudreuil and his squadron, she \nbestowed on them the most delicate and most \ncharming eulogium. We passed the remainder \nof the evening with Mr. Brick, who had again \ninvited us to supper, where we enjoyed all the \npleasure inseparable from his society. I had a \ngreat deal of conversation with Doctor Jarvis, \na young physician, and also a surgeon, but what \nwas better a good whig, with excellent views in \npolitics. When Mr. D'Estaing left Boston the \nsick and wounded were intrusted to his care.\" \n[One of these sick died and was buried, in what \nhad so recently been Puritan Boston, — it is \ninteresting to note, — with the full rites of the \n\n\nMARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. \n\nPage 351 \n\n\nJ \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 347 \n\nCatholic church, members of the senate and \nassembly, leading citizens of the town \" and \nministers of every sect of religion in Boston \" \nattending the remains to their place of inter- \nment !] \n\nAn account of Boston which, though not \nalways accurate, is none the less interesting, has \nbeen left us by Abbe Robin, one of the chaplains \nof the French army, who was here in 1781. \nSpeaking of the houses he says: \" Their form \nand construction would surprise a European \neye; they are built in brick and wood, not in \nthe clumsy and melancholy taste of our ancient \nEuropean towns, but regularly and well provided \nwith windows and doors. . . . These build- \nings are generally painted with a pale white \ncolor, which renders the prospect much more \npleasing than it would otherwise be; All the \nparts of these buildings are so well joined and \ntheir weight is so equally divided and propor- \ntionate to their bulk that they may be removed \nfrom place to place with little difficulty. I have \nseen one of two stories high removed about a \nquarter of a mile, if not more, from its original \nsituation and the whole French army have seen \nthe same thing done at Newport. Wliat they \ntell us of the travelling habitations of the Sythians \nis far less wonderful. Their household furniture \nis simple but made of choice wood after the \nEnglish fashion, which renders its appearance \n\n\n348 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nless gay ; their floors are covered with handsome \ncarpets or printed clothes, but others sprinkle \nthem with fine sand. \n\n'* This city is supposed to contain about six \nthousand houses and thirty thousand inhabit- \nants [as a matter of fact there were less than \neighteen thousand inhabitants and only a little \nover two thousand buildings, including dwelling- \nhouses, stores, stables and so on]; there are \nnineteen churches for the several sects here, all \nof them convenient and several finished with \ntaste and elegance, especially those of the Pres- \nbyterians and the Church of England; their \nform is generally a long square, ornamented with \na pulpit, and furnished with pews of a similar \nfabrication throughout. The poor as well as \nthe rich hear the word of God in these places \nin a convenient and decent posture of body. \n\n\" Sunday is observed with the utmost strict- \nness; all business, how important soever, is \nthen totally at a stand and the most innocent \npleasures and recreations prohibited. Boston, \nthat populous town, where at other times there \nis such a hurry of business is on this day a mere \ndesert; you may walk the streets without meet- \ning a single person or if perchance you meet one, \nyou scarcely dare to stop and talk with him. \nA Frenchman that lodged with me took it into \nhis head to play on the flute on Sundays for \nhis amusement; the people on hearing it were \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 349 \n\ngreatly enraged, collected in crowds around the \nhouse and would have carried matters to an \nextremity in a short time with the musician, \nhad not the landlord given him warning of his \ndanger and forced him to desist. [Possibly it \nwas the nerves and not the piety of the Puri- \ntans that this flutist's performances offended.] \nUpon this day of melancholy you cannot go \ninto a house but you find the whole family \nemployed in reading the Bible; and indeed it \nis an affecting sight to see the father of a family \nsurrounded by his household, hearing him \nexplain the sublime truths of this sacred volume. \nNobody fails here of going to the place of wor- \nship appropriated to his sect. In these places \nthere reigns a profound silence; an order and \nrespect is also observable which has not been \nseen for a long time in our Catholic churches. \nTheir psalmody is grave and majestic; and the \nharmony of the poetry in their national tongue \nadds a grace to the music, and contributes \ngreatly towards keeping up the attention of \nthe worshippers. ...\" \n\nThe social side of church-going, quite as much \nas piety, served in the good Abbe's opinion to \ndraw out the people, however. \" Deprived of \nall shows and public diversions church is the \ngrand theatre,\" he says \" where the American \nladies attend to display their extravagance and \nfinery. There they come dressed in the finest \n\n\n350 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsilks, and overshadowed with a profusion of the \nmost superb pkimes. The hair of the head is \nraised and supported upon cushions to an ex- \ntravagant height, somewhat resembling the man- \nner in which the French ladies wore their hair \nsome years ago. Instead of powdering they \noften wash the hair which answers the purpose \nwell enough, as their hair is commonly of an \nagreeable light color; but the more fashionable \namong them begin now to adopt the present \nEuropean method of setting off the head to the \nbest advantage. They are of a large size, well \nproportioned, their features generally regular \nand their complexion fair without ruddiness. \nThey have less cheerfulness and ease of behavior \nthan the ladies of France, but more of greatness \nand dignity. I have even imagined that I have \nseen in them something that answers to the idea \nof beauty we gain from those master-pieces of \nthe artists of antiquity, which are yet extant in \nour days. \n\n\" The stature of the men is tall and their \ncarriage erect, but their make is rather slim and \ntheir color inclining to pale; they are not so \ncurious in their dress as the women but every- \nthing upon them is neat and proper. At twenty- \nfive years of age the women begin to lose the \nbloom and freshness of youth; and at thirty- \nfive or forty their beauty is gone. The decay of \nthe men is equally premature.\" \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 351 \n\nLafayette came to Boston several times during \nthe period we are now considering. After the \nfailure of the Rhode Island campaign, in 1778, \nhe journeyed hither to use his persuasions with \nthe commander of the French fleet not to desert \nthe cause. And it was from Boston that he \nembarked in 1781, — just after Yorktown, — \nwith dispatches to the French king. On this \noccasion he was enthusiastically received, upon \nhis entrance to the town, by a committee of which \nSamuel Adams was chairman. \n\nBoston was again en jete for Lafayette in \n1784. This time his visit came towards the end \nof that triumphal progress through the country \nin the course of which Mt. Vernon had been \nvisited. The oflBcers of the army met him at \nWatertown; then in a procession he made his \nentry over Boston Neck, through throngs of \npeople. In the evening the street lanterns were \nHghted for the first time since the peace and on \nthe nineteenth, the anniversary of Yorktown, \nGovernor Hancock received the distinguished \nvisitor formally. At Faneuil Hall he was the \nhonored guest of five hundred gentlemen at \ndinner. \" Thirteen decorated arches surrounded \nthe room and Lafayette sat under a huge fleur- \nde lis. Thirteen guns in the market-place \naccompanied as many patriotic toasts. Wlien \none proposing the health of Washington was \ndrunk, a curtain fell and disclosed a picture of \n\n\n352 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe General crowned with laurel, and wearing \nthe color of America and France. Lafayette \nled off the response with ' Vive Washington ! ' \nIn the evening Madam Haley, a sister of the \nnotorious John Wilkes and a leader of fashion \nin the town gave a great party, and there were \nmany illuminations throughout the streets.\" \n\nIt was during this visit of Lafayette that the \ngreat Frenchman was regaled with the spectacle \nof democracy at work. The Breck family had \nshown him many attentions and \" one day,\" \nsays Samuel Breck, \" my father invited him to \ngo to Faneuil Hall to hear the discussion of \nsome municipal law then in agitation. ' You \nwill see,' said he, ' the quiet proceedings of our \ntownsmen and learn by personal examination \nhow erroneous is the general opinion abroad that \na large community cannot be governed by pure \ndemocracy. Here w^e have in Boston, ' con- \ntinued he, ' about eighteen thousand inhabitants, \nand all our town business is done in a general \nassembly of the people.' \n\n\" The Marquis, glad of the opportunity, \nconsented to attend my father. By and by the \ngreat bell of the celebrated Dr. Samuel Cooper's \nchurch, with a dozen others, called the inhabit- \nants together. I forget what the business was \nbut it inspired universal interest, and drew to \nthe hall an overflowing house. The Marquis \nwas of course well accommodated, and sat in \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 353 \n\nsilent admiration at the demure manner in which \nthe moderator was chosen and inducted to the \nchair and the meeting fully organized. \n\n\" Then the debate opened. One speaker \naffirmed, another denied, a third rejoined; each \nincreasing in vehemence until the matter in \ndebate was changed into personal sarcasm. \nGibe followed gibe, commotion ensued, the \npopular mass rolled to and fro, disorder reached \nits height, and the elders of the town were glad \nto break up the stormy meeting and postpone \nthe discussion. My father led the Marquis out \nin the midst of the angry multitude. When \nfairly disengaged from the crowd he said to the \nillustrious stranger: ' This is not the sample \nwliich I wished to show you of our mode of \ndeliberating. Never do I recollect to have seen \nsuch fiery spirits assembled in this hall, and I \nmust beg you not to judge of us by what you have \nseen today; for good sense moderation and per- \nfect order are the usual characteristics of my \nfellow-townsmen here and elsewhere.' ' No \ndoubt, no doubt;' said the Marquis laughing; \n'but it is well enough to know that there are \nexceptions to the general rule.' \" \n\nJust after Massachusetts had ratified the new \nConstitution another French visitor came to \nBoston, — Jean Pierre Brissot De Warville, \nborn near Chartres in 1754, educated for the \nlaw and an eager student of history and politics. \n\n\n354 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nBrissot, while very young, had earned a literary \nreputation in his native land; then he spent \nmuch time in England and gained, in London, \nvaluable journalistic experience. Becoming a \nrepublican, he took an important part in the \nearly movements of the French Revolution, and \nit was to study our social and political conditions, \nin order more intelligently to commend America's \nrepublican experiment to the French people, that \nhe came over here in 1788. \n\nBoston is the first place which he describes in \nhis \" New Travels in the United States of \nAmerica,\" a work published in Paris in 1791, \nbrought out in an English edition at London in \n1792, and in an American edition at Boston in \n1797. Of all the Frenchmen who wrote about \nour city his descriptions are at once the most \nlively and the most accurate. To be sure, the \nstyle is frequently a bit florid and the enthusi- \nastic tone seems slightly overdone. But, for all \nthat, the pictures are clear and interesting ones, \nwhich we should be very sorry to be without. \n\n\" With what joy,\" he begins under the date \n\" Boston, July 30, 1788,\" \" did I leap to this \nshore of liberty! I was weary of the sea; and \nthe sight of trees, of towns, and even of men, \ngives a delicious refreshment to eyes fatigued \nwith the desert of the ocean. I flew from despot- \nism, and came at last to enjoy the spectacle of \nliberty among a people where nature, education, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 355 \n\nand habit had engraved the equality of rights, \nwhich everywhere else is treated as a chimera. \nWith what pleasure did I contemplate this town, \nwhich first shook off the English yoke! which, \nfor a long time, resisted all the seductions, all \nthe menaces, all the horrors of a civil war! How \nI delighted to wander up and down that long \nstreet whose simple houses of wood border the \nmagnificent channel of Boston, and whose full \nstores offer me all the productions of the continent \nwhich I had quitted ! How I enjoyed the activity \nof the merchants, the artisans, and the sailors! \nIt was not the noisy vortex of Paris; it was not \nthe unquiet, eager mien of my countrymen; it \nwas the simple, dignified air of men who are \nconscious of liberty, and who see in all men their \nbrothers and their equals. Everything in this \nstreet bears the marks of a town still in its \ninfancy, but which, even in its infancy, enjoys a \ngreat prosperity. . . . Boston is just rising from \nthe devastations of war, and its commerce is \nflourishing; its manufactures, productions, arts, \nand sciences oft'er a number of curious and inter- \nesting observations. . . . \n\n\" You no longer meet here that Presbyterian \nausterity which interdicted all pleasures, even \nthat of walking; which forbade travelling on \nSunday; which persecuted men whose opinions \nwere different from their own. The Bostonians \nunite simplicity of morals with that French \n\n\n356 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\npoliteness and delicacy of manners which render \nvirtue more amiable. They are hospitable to \nstrangers, and obliging to friends. They are \ntender husbands, fond and almost idolatrous \nparents, and kind masters. Music, which their \nteachers formerly proscribed as a diabolic art, \nbegins to make part of their education. In some \nhouses you hear the forte-piano. This art, it \nis true, is still in its infancy; but the young \nnovices who exercise it are so gentle, so com- \nplaisant and so modest, that the proud perfection \nof art gives no pleasure equal to what they afford. \nGod grant that the Bostonian women may never, \nlike those of France, acquire the malady of \nperfection in this art! It is never attained but \nat the expense of the domestic virtues. \n\n*' The young women here enjoy the liberty \nthey do in England, that they did in Geneva \nwhen morals were there, and the republic existed ; \nand they do not abuse it. Their frank and tender \nhearts have nothing to fear from the perfidy of \nmen. Examples of this perfidy are rare; the \nvows of love are believed; and love always \nrespects them, or shame follows the guilty. \n\n\" The Bostonian mothers are reserved. Their \nair is, however, frank, good and communicative. \nEntirely devoted to their families, they are \noccupied in rendering their husbands happy, \nand in training their children to virtue. \n\n\" The law denounces hea\\y penalties against \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 357 \n\nadultery, such as the pillory and imprisonment. \nThis law has scarcely ever been called into \nexecution. It is because families are happy; \nand they are pure because they are happy. \n\n\" Neatness without luxury is a characteristic \nfeature of this purity of manners; and this \nneatness is seen everywhere at Boston, in their \ndress, in their houses, and in their churches. \nNothing is more charming than an inside view \nof a church on Sunday. The good cloth coat \ncovers the man; calicoes and chintzes dress the \nwomen and children, without being spoiled by \nthose gewgaws which whim and caprice have \nadded to them among our women. [This \nverdict differs interestingly from that of Abbe \nRobin!] Powder and pomatum never sully \nthe heads of infants and children: I see them \nwith pain, however, on the heads of men: they \ninvoke the art of the hair-dresser ; for, unhappily, \nthis art has already crossed the seas. \n\n\" I shall never call to mind, without emotion, \nthe pleasure I had one day in hearing the respec- \ntable Mr. Clarke, successor to the learned Dr. \nChauncey, the friend of mankind. His church \nis in close union with that of Dr. Cooper, [Rev. \nSamuel Cooper, D. D., Hancock's pastor and \nthe minister of the Brattle Square Meeting-House \n(Manifesto church) built in 1772 and used as \nbarracks during the Revolution] to whom every \ngood Frenchman, and every friend of liberty, \n\n\n358 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nowes a tribute of gratitude for the love he bore \nthe French, and the zeal with which he defended \nand preached the American independence. I \nremarked in this auditory the exterior of that \nease and contentment of which I have spoken; \nthat collected calmness, resulting from the habit \nof gravity, and the conscious presence of the \nAlmighty; that religious decency which is \nequally distant from grovelling idolatry, and \nfrom the light and wanton airs of those Europeans \nwho go to a church as to a theatre. \n\n\" Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsse. \n\n*' But, to crown my happiness, I saw none of \nthose livid wretches, covered with rags, who in \nEurope, soliciting our compassion at the foot \nof the altar, seem to bear testimony against \nProvidence, our humanity, and the order of \nsociety. The discourse, the prayer, the worship, \neverything, bore the same simplicity. The \nsermon breathed the best morality, and it was \nheard with attention. \n\n\" The excellence of this morality characterizes \nalmost all the sermons of all the sects through \nthe Continent. The ministers rarely speak \ndogmas : universal tolerance, the child of Ameri- \ncan independence, has banished the preaching \nof dogmas, which always leads to discussion and \nquarrels. All the sects admit nothing but \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 359 \n\nmorality, which is the same in all, and the \nonly preaching proper for a great society of \nbrothers. \n\n\" This tolerance is unlimited at Boston, a \ntown formerly witness of bloody persecutions, \nespecially against the Quakers, where many of \nthis sect paid with their life for their persever- \nance in their religious opinions. Just Heaven! \nhow is it possible there can exist men believing \nsincerely in God, and yet barbarous enough to \ninflict death on a woman, the intrepid Dyer, \nbecause she thee^d and thoud men, because she \ndid not believe in the divine mission of priests, \nbecause she would follow the Gospel literally ? \nBut let us draw the curtain over these scenes \nof horror; they will never again sully this new \ncontinent, destined by Heaven to be the asylum \nof liberty and humanity. Every one at present \nworships God in his own way, at Boston. Ana- \nbaptists, Methodists, Quakers, and Catholics \nprofess openly their opinions; and all offices of \ngovernment, places, and emoluments are equally \nopen to all sects. Virtue and talents, and not \nreligious opinions, are the tests of public con- \nfidence. \n\n\" The ministers of different sects live in such \nharmony that they supply each other's places \nwhen any one is detained from his pulpit. \n\n\" On seeing men think so differently on matters \nof religion, and yet possess such virtues, it may \n\n\n360 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbe concluded that one may be very honest, and \nbeUeve, or not beUeve, in transubstantiation, \nand the word. They have concluded that it is \nbest to tolerate each other, and that this is the \nworship most agreeable to God. \n\n\" Before this opinion was so general among \nthem they had established another: it was the \nnecessity of reducing divine worship to the \ngreatest simplicity, to disconnect it from all its \nsuperstitious ceremonies, which gave it the \nappearance of idolatry; and, particularly, not \nto give their priests enormous salaries, to enable \nthem to live in luxury and idleness; in a word, \nto restore the evangelical simplicity. They \nhave succeeded. In the country, the church \nhas a glebe; in town, the ministers live on col- \nlections made each Sunday in the church, and \nthe rents of pews. It is an excellent practice to \ninduce the ministers to be diligent in their studies, \nand faithful in their duty; for the preference is \ngiven to him whose discourses please the most, \nand his salary is the most considerable; while, \namong us, the ignorant and the learned, the \ndebauchee and the man of virtue, are always \nsure of their livings. It results, likewise, from \nthis that a mode of worship will not be imposed \non those who do not believe in it. Is it not a \ntyranny to force men to pay for the support of \na system which they abhor ? \n\n*' The Bostonians are become so philosophical \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 361 \n\non the subject of religion that they have lately \nordained a man who was refused by the bishop. \nThe sect to w^iicli he belongs have installed him \nin their church, and given him the power to \npreach and to teach; and he preaches, and he \nteaches, and discovers good abilities; for the \npeople rarely deceive themselves in their choice. \nThis economical institution, which has no ex- \nample but in the primitive church, has been \ncensured by those who believe still in the tradi- \ntion of orders by the direct descendants of the \nApostles. But the Bostonians are so near \nbelieving that every man may be his own \npreacher that the apostolic doctrine has not \nfound very warm advocates. . . . [The clergy- \nman here referred to was Dr. James Freeman, \nfirst minister of King's Chapel during the \nUnitarian regime. Under his direction the \nliturgy was revised to conform to the new creed \nof the society. Dr. Freeman was ordained in \n1787 and thereupon the connection of this \nchurch with the American Protestant Episcopal \nchurch was terminated. Rev. James Freeman, \nClarke, D.D., was Dr. Freeman's grandson.] \n\n\" Since the ancient puritan austerity has dis- \nappeared, you are no longer surprised to see a \ngame of cards introduced among these good \nPresbyterians. Wlien the mind is tranquil, in \nthe enjoyment of competence and peace, it is \nnatural to occupy it in this way, especially in a \n\n\n362 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncountry where there is no theatre, wliere men \nmake it not a business to pay court to the \nwomen, where they read few books, and culti- \nvate still less the sciences. This taste for cards \nis certainly unhappy in a republican state. The \nhabit of them contracts the mind, prevents the \nacquisition of useful knowledge, leads to idleness \nand dissipation, and gives birth to every malig- \nnant passion. Happily, it is not very considerable \nin Boston: you see here no fathers of families \nrisking their whole fortunes in it. \n\n\" There are many clubs at Boston. M. \nChastellux speaks of a particular club held once \na week. I was at it several times, and was much \npleased with their politeness to strangers, and \nthe knowledge displayed in their conversation. \nThere is no coffee-house at Boston, New York, \nor Philadelphia. One house in each town, that \nthey call by that name, serves as an exchange. \n\n\" One of the principal pleasures of the inhab- \nitants of these towns consist in little parties for \nthe country among families and friends. The \nprincipal expense of the parties, especially after \ndinner, is tea. In this, as in their whole manner \nof living, the Americans in general resemble the \nEnglish. Punch, warm and cold, before dinner; \nexcellent beef, and Spanish and Bordeaux wines, \ncover their tables, always solidly and abundantly \nserved. Spruce beer, excellent cider, and Phila- \ndelphia porter precede the wines. This porter \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 363 \n\nis equal to the English: the manufacture of it \nsaves a vast tribute formerly paid to the English \nindustry. The same may soon be said with \nrespect to cheese. I have often found American \ncheese equal to the best Cheshire of England, \nor the Rocfort of France. This may with truth \nbe said of that made on a farm on Elizabeth \nIsland, belonging to the respectable Governor \nBowdoin. \n\n\" After forcing the English to give up their \ndomination, the Americans determined to rival \nthem in everything useful. This spirit of emula- \ntion shows itself everywhere; it has erected at \nBoston an extensive glass manufactory, belong- \ning to M. Breck and others. \n\n\" This spirit of emulation has opened to the \nBostonians so many channels of commerce, which \nlead them to all parts of the globe. \n\n\" Nil mortalibus arduum est; \nAudax Japeti genus. \n\nIf these lines could ever apply to any people, it \nis to the free Americans. No danger, no dis- \ntance, no obstacle, impedes them. What have \nthey to fear ? All mankind are their brethren : \nthey wish peace with all. \n\n\" It is this spirit of emulation which multiplies \nand brings to perfection so many manufactories \nof cordage in this town; which has erected \n\n\n364 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nfilatures of hemp and flax, proper to occupy \nyoung people, without subjecting them to be \ncrowded together in such numbers as to ruin \ntheir health and their morals; proper, likewise, \nto occupy that class of women whom the long \nvoyages of their seafaring husbands and other \naccidents reduce to inoccupation. \n\n\" To this spirit of emulation are owing the \nmanufactories of salt, nails, paper and paper- \nhangings, which are multiplied in this state. \nThe rum distilleries are on the decline since the \nsuppression of the slave trade, in which this \nliquor was employed, and since the diminution \nof the use of strong spirits by the country people. \n\n\" This is fortunate for the human race; and \nthe American industry will soon repair the small \nloss it sustains from the decline of this fabrication \nof poisons. \n\n\" Massachusetts wishes to rival, in manu- \nfactures, Connecticut and Pennsylvania; she \nhas, like the last, a society formed for the en- \ncouragement of manufactures and industry. \n\n\" The greatest monuments of the industry \nof this state are the three bridges of Charles, \nMaiden, and Essex. \n\n\" Boston has the glory of having given the first \ncollege or university to the new world. It is \nplaced on an extensive plain, four miles from \nBoston, at a place called Cambridge; the origin \nof this useful institution was m 1636. The \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 365 \n\nimagination could not fix on a place that could \nbetter unite all the conditions essential to a seat \nof education; sufficiently near to Boston to \nenjoy all the advantages of a communication \nwith Europe and the rest of the world, and suffi- \nciently distant not to expose the students to the \n\n\nA WESTERLY VIEW OF THE COLLEGES IN CAMBRIDGE, NEW ENGLAND \nFrom an old print \n\n\ncontagion of licentious manners common in \ncommercial towns. \n\n\" The air of Cambridge is pure, and the en- \nvironments charming, offering a vast space for \nthe exercise of the youth. \n\n\"The buildings are large, numerous, and well \ndistributed. But, as the number of the students \naugments every day, it will be necessary soon to \naugment the buildings. The library, and the \ncabinet of philosophy, do honor to the institution. \nThe first contains 13,000 volumes. The heart \n\n\n366 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nof a Frenchman palpitates on finding the works \nof Racine, of Montesquieu, and the Encyclo- \npaedia where 150 years ago, arose the smoke of \nthe savage calumet. \n\n\" The regulation of the course of studies here \nis nearly the same as that at the university of \nOxford. I think it impossible but that the last \nrevolution must introduce a great reform. Free \nmen ought to strip themselves of their prejudices, \nand to perceive that, above all, it is necessary to \nbe a man and a citizen; and that the study of \nthe dead languages, of a fastidious philosophy \nand theology, ought to occupy few of the mo- \nments of a life which might be usefully employed \nin studies more advantageous to the great \nfamily of a human race. \n\n\" Such a change in the studies is more prob- \nable, as an academy is formed at Boston [Ameri- \ncan Academy of Arts and Sciences founded in \n1780.] composed of respectable men, who culti- \nvate all the sciences; and who, disengaged from \nreligious prejudices, will doubtless very soon \npoint out a course of education more short, and \nmore sure in forming good citizens and philoso- \nphers. \n\n'* Mr. Bowdoin, president of this academy, is \na man of universal talents. He unites with his \nprofound erudition the virtues of a magistrate \nand the principles of a republican politician. His \nconduct has never disappointed the confidence \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 367 \n\nof his fellow-citizens ; though his son-in-law, Mr. \nTemple, has incurred their universal detestation \nfor the versatility of his conduct during the war, \nand his open attachment to the British since the \npeace. To recompense him for this, the English \nhave given him the consulate-general of America. \n\n*' But to return to the university of Cambridge, \nsuperintended by the respectable President Wil- \nlard. Among the associates in the direction of \nstudies are distinguished Dr. Wigglesworth and \nDr. Dexter. The latter is professor of natural \npliilosophy, chemistry, and medicine; a man of \nextensive knowledge, and great modesty. He \ntold me, to my great satisfaction, that he gave \nlectures on the experiments of our school of \nchemistry. The excellent work of my respec- \ntable master, Dr. Fourcroy, was in his hands, \nwhich taught him the rapid strides that this \nscience has lately made in Europe. \n\n*' In a free country everything ought to bear \nthe stamp of patriotism. This patriotism, so \nhappily displayed in the foundation, endowment, \nand encouragement of this university, appears \nevery year in a solemn feast celebrated at Cam- \nbridge in honor of the Sciences. This feast, \nwhich takes place once a year in all the colleges \nof America, is called the commencement; it re- \nsembles the exercises and distribution of prizes \nin our colleges. It is a day of joy for Boston; \nalmost all its inhabitants assemble in Cambridge. \n\n\n368 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThe most distinguished of the students display \ntheir talents in the presence of the public; and \nthese exercises, which are generally on patriotic \nsubjects, are terminated by a feast, where reign \nthe freest gayety and the most cordial fraternity. \n\n*' It is remarked, that in countries chiefly \ndevoted to commerce the sciences are not carried \nto any high degree. This remark applies to \nBoston. The university certainly contains men \nof worth and learning ; but science is not diffused \namong the inhabitants of the town. Commerce \noccupies all their ideas, turns all their heads, and \nabsorbs all their speculations. Thus you find \nfew estimable works, and few authors. . . . \n\n\" Let us not blame the Bostonians; they \nthink of the useful before procuring to themselves \nthe agreeable. They have no brilliant monu- \nments; but they have neat and commodious \nchurches, but they have good houses, but they \nhave superb bridges, and excellent ships. Their \nstreets are well illuminated at night; while many \nancient cities of Europe, containing proud \nmonuments of art, have never yet thought of \npreventing the fatal effects of nocturnal dark- \nness. \n\n*' Besides the societies for the encouragement \nof agriculture and manufactures, they have \nanother, known by the name of the Humane \nSociety. Their object is to recover drowned \npersons. It is formed after the model of the one \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 369 \n\nat London, as that is copied from the one at \nParis. They follow the same methods as in \nEurope, and have rendered important succors. \n\n\" The Medical Society is not less useful than \nthe one last mentioned. It holds a correspond- \nence with all the country towns; to know the \nsymptoms of local diseases, propose the proper \nremedies, and give instruction thereupon to \ntheir fellow-citizens. \n\n\" Another establishment is the almshouse. \nIt is destined to the poor who, by age and infir- \nmity, are unable to gain their living. It contains \nat present about 150 persons. \n\n\" Another, called the workhouse, or house of \ncorrection, is not so much peopled as you might \nimagine. In a rising country, in an active port, \nwhere provisions are cheap, good morals pre- \ndominate, and the number of thieves and vaga- \nl)onds is small. These are vermin attached to \nmisery; and there is no misery here. [The \nalmshouse and the workhouse stood, side by \nside, on what is now Park Street.] \n\n\" An employment which is, unhappily, one \nof the most lucrative in this state, is the profes- \nsion of the law. They preserve still the expen- \nsive forms of the English practice, which good \nsense, and the love of order, ought to teach them \nto suppress; they render advocates necessary; \nthey have likewise borrowed from their fathers, \nthe English, the habit of demanding exorbitant \n\n\n370 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nfees. But, notwithstanding the abuses of law \nproceedings, they complain very little of the \nlawyers. Those with whom I have been ac- \nquainted appear to enjoy a great reputation for \nintegrity, such as Sumner, Wendell, Lowell, \nSullivan. ... It is in part to their enlightened \nphilanthropy that is to be attributed the law of \nthe 26th of March, 1788, which condemns to \nheavy penalties all persons who shall import or \nexport slaves, or be concerned in this infamous \ntraffic. \n\n\" Finally, they have had a great part in the \nRevolution, by their writings, by their discourses, \nby taking the lead in the affairs of Congress, and \nin foreign negotiations. \n\n\" To recall this memorable period is to bring \nto mind one of the greatest ornaments of the \nAmerican bar, the celebrated Adams, who from \nthe humble station of a schoolmaster has raised \nhimself to the first dignities, whose name is as \nmuch respected in Europe as in his own country \nfor the difficult embassies with which he has \nbeen charged. He has finally returned to his \nretreat, in the midst of the applauses of his \nfellow-citizens, occupied in the cultivation of \nhis farm, and forgetting what he was when he \ntrampled on the pride of his king, who had put \na price upon his head, and who was forced to \nreceive him as the ambassador of a free county. \nSuch were the generals and ambassadors of the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 371 \n\nbest ages of Rome and Greece; such were \nEpaminondas, Cincinnatus, and Fabius. \n\n*' It is not possible to see Mr. Adams, who \nknows so well the American constitutions, with- \nout speaking to him of that which appears to \nbe taking place in France. I don't know whether \nhe has an ill-opinion of our character, of our \nconstancy, or of our understanding; but he \ndoes not believe that we can establish a liberty \neven equal to what the English enjoy; he does \nnot believe even that we have the right, like the \nancient States-General, to require that no tax \nshould be imposed without the consent of the \npeople. I had no difficulty in combating him, \neven by authorities, independent of the social \ncompact, against which no time, no concessions, \ncan prescribe, \n\n\" Mr. Adams is not the only man distinguished \nin this great revolution who has retired to the \nobscure labors of a country life. General Heath \nis one of those worthy imitators of the Roman \nCincinnatus, for he likes not the American \nCincinnati; their eagle appears to him a gew- \ngaw, proper only for children. On showing me \na letter from the immortal Washington, whom \nhe loves as a father, and reveres as an angel, this \nletter, says he, is a jewel which, in my eyes, \nsurpasses all the eagles and all the ribbons in the \nworld. It was a letter in which that general had \nfelicitated him for his good conduct on a certain \n\n\n372 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\noccasion. With what joy did this respectable \nman show me all parts of his farm! [His estate \nlay in Roxbury, at the foot of Parker Hill and is \nnow bisected by Heath Street.] What happiness \nhe enjoys on it! He is a true farmer. A glass \nof cider, which he presented to me with frankness \nand good humor painted on his countenance, \nappeared to me superior to the most exquisite \nwines. With this simplicity, men are worthy of \nliberty, and they are sure of enjoying it for a \nlong time. \n\n\" This simplicity characterizes almost all the \nmen of this state who have acted distinguished \nparts in the revolution: such, among others, as \nSamuel Adams, and Mr. Hancock, the present \ngovernor. If ever a man was sincerely an idolater \nof republicanism, it is Samuel Adams; and never \na man united more virtues to give respect to his \nopinions. He has the excess of republican \nvirtues, untainted probity, simplicity, modesty, \nand, above all, firmness: he will have no capitu- \nlation with abuses ; he fears as much the despot- \nism of virtue and talents as the despotism of vice. \nCherishing the greatest love and respect for \nWashington, he voted to take from him the \ncommand at the end of a certain term; he \nrecollected that Caesar could not have succeeded \nin overturning the republic but by prolonging \nthe command of the army. The event has proved \nthat the application was false; but it was by \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 373 \n\na miracle, and the safety of a country should \nnever be risked on the faith of a miracle. \n\n\" Samuel Adams is the best supporter of the \nparty of Governor Hancock. You know the \ngreat sacrifices which the latter made in the \nrevolution, and the boldness with which he \ndeclared himself at the beginning of the insurrec- \ntion. The same spirit of patriotism animates \nhim still. A great generosity, united to a vast \nambition, forms his character : he has the virtues \nand the address of popularism; that is to say, \nthat without effort he shews himself the equal \nand the friend of all. I supped at his house with \na hatter, who appeared to be in great familiarity \nwith him. Mr. Hancock is amiable and polite \nwhen he wishes to be; but they say he does not \nalways choose it. He has a marvellous gout, \nwhich dispenses him from all attentions, and \nforbids the access to his house. If I were to \npaint to you all the estimable characters which \nI found in this charming town, my portraits \nwould never be finished. I found everywhere \nthat hospitality, that affability, that friendship \nfor the French which M. Chastellux has so much \nexalted.\" \n\n\" The parts adjacent to Boston are charming \nand well cultivated, adorned with elegant houses \nand agreeable situations. Among the surround- \ning eminences you distinguish Bunker Hill. \nThis name will recall to your mind the famous \n\n\n374 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nWarren, one of the first martyrs of American \nliberty. I owed an homage to his generous \nmanes ; and I was eager to pay it. You arrive \nat Bunker Hill by the superb bridge at \nCharlestown, of which I have spoken. . . . \nThis hill offers one of the most astonishing \nmonuments of American valor; it is impossi- \nble to conceive how seven or eight hundred \nmen, badly armed, and fatigued, having just \nconstructed, in haste, a few miserable in- \ntrenchments, and who knew nothing, or very \nlittle, of the use of arms, could resist, for so long \na time, the attack of thousands of the English \ntroops, fresh, well-disciplined, succeeding each \nother in the attack. But such was the vigorous \nresistance of the Americans that the English \nlost 1200 men, killed and wounded, before they \nbecame master of the place. ...\" \n\nLater in his journey Brissot met Madison \nHamilton and Jay in New York and spent three \ndays at Mt. Vernon with Washington, to whom \nLafayette had given him an introduction. Bris- \nsot's writings and the description of him which \nhas come down to us, as \" a brisk little French- \nman disposed to see all that was good in \nAmerica,\" make it sad to record that he met \nhis death on the guillotine, in 1793, with twenty \nother Girondists. \n\nTwo other famous French visitors to Boston \nduring the period covered by this book were the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 375 \n\nDue (le Chartres, afterwards Louis Philippe, \nking of France, and Talleyrand. The former \ntaught the French language in the apartments \nof James Amblaud, a tailor, — who then lived \nat the corner of Hanover and Marshall streets, — \nto tide him over a period when expected remit- \ntances from his mother failed to arrive. \n\nTalleyrand was in Boston in July and August, \n1794, and is generally believed to have made his \nheadquarters at the old Hancock Tavern, which \nuntil six years ago, stood in Corn Court. As a \nyoung man the diplomat had been handsome \nbut William Sullivan describes him at this \nperiod, — he was now forty — as of about \nmiddle stature with light hair, sallow complexion, \nblue eyes and a mouth wide and far from hand- \nsome; his \"body large and protuberant in front, \nhis lower limbs small and his feet deformed.\" \nClearly not a hero of romance. And yet \nthere is connected with his stay at the Hancock \nTavern as romantic and tragic a story as can be \nfound in any work of fiction. In the possession \nof the landlord at Corn Court, — runs the \ntale, — there was a penknife of exquisite work- \nmanship to which Talleyrand took such a fancy \nthat, upon his departure, it was given to him by \nhis host. Not long after leaving America, he \nwent to Homburg and there became enamored \nof a woman of noble birth known to the world \nas Cordelia. She, too, admired the penknife \n\n\n376 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nand, to give her pleasure, her lover presented \nit to her. After he had deserted her she was \nfound dead on the floor of her apartment stabbed \n\n\nHANCOCK TAVERN, WHERE TALLEYRAND STAYED WTIILE IN BOSTON \n\nthrough the heart with the penknife that had \ncome from Boston. Nearby was a note addressed \nto Talleyrand. It read in part: \" I have \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 377 \n\nburned all your letters. They do no honor to \nmy memory nor to your heart. You are the \nauthor of my death; may God forgive you as I \ndo.\" \n\nJust how the wily diplomat put in the long \nsummer days of his stay in Boston I do not \nknow. But one trip he made regularly, — to the \noffice of the Massachusetts Centinal and Republic, \nwhere was kept on file copies of the Moniteur. \nHe was entertained, too, at the Craigie House \nin Cambridge, the talented mistress of which \npiqued her unpolished husband by talking to \ntheir guest in his native tongue. Very likely \nthe two greatly enjoyed each other, for Mrs. \nCraigie was young, beautiful and of remarkable \nmental powers. French literature was her \ndelight; so great was her admiration for Voltaire \nthat she arranged that on her curious monument \nat Mt. Auburn — she died in 1841 — should \nbe no name, only these lines from the work of \nthe famous atheist: \" As flame ascends, the \nvital principle ascends to God.\" She would \nnever allow the canker-worms on her beautiful \nplace in Cambridge to be molested, saying: \n\" Do not injure them; they are our fellow- \nworms.\" Small wonder that honest Andrew \nCraigie, who had made a fortune as apothecary- \ngeneral during the Revolution (and had undoubt- \nedly been married for that fortune by this clever \ngirl, who was only half his age), did not enjoy \n\n\n378 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhearing such a wife converse with Talleyrand \nabout he knew not what. For Gilbert Stuart, \na great physiognomist, had just said of the \nFrenchman, who had been visiting his studio: \n\" If that man is not a villain, the Almighty does \n\n\n>J^Zti:2y. Si»:g^f^< ^t^t>1^2> \n\n\nCRAIGIE HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE \n\n\nnot Write a legible hand.\" Events proved that \nTalleyrand's evil face did not belie his character. \nSullivan, whose description of the wily diplo- \nmat's personal appearance has been quoted, \ntells us that whether the great man could speak \nEnglish or not when in Boston he declined to \ndo so. He adds that the \" expression of Talley- \nrand's face was tranquil and his manner that \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 379 \n\nof a cool observer.\" Of what he observed, \nhowever, little is known. For the only book that \nhe published on America had to do with our \ncommercial relations to England! Very spicy, \nno doubt, would be his \" Intimate Memoirs \" \nhad he chosen to write such. Once, when an \nAmerican lady who had met him at a ball here \nrecalled to him, in France, the occasion of their \nfirst encounter, he shrugged his great shoulders \nand said that he remembered it perfectly, adding \nthat though America was a great nation \" leur \nluxe est affreux.\" \n\nPrince Jerome Bonaparte was in Boston in \n1804, apparently just after his marriage to the \nbeautiful Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore (they \nwere married by Archbishop Carroll, December \n24, 1803) and was entertained at dinner. After- \nwards an amusing incident occurred. The \nstory is told by John Ward Dean in his memoir \nof Daniel Messinger: \" After dinner Col. Mes- \nsinger sang the favorite old song of ' To-morrow.' \nAs the audience joined in the chorus ' To- \nmorrow, to-morrow,' a cloud came over the \ncountenance of the Prince, and, taking his next \nneighbor by the arm, he exclaimed : ' To Moreau ! \nTo Moreau! Is it a song in honor of General \nMoreau ? ' He was quickly undeceived, and \nsmiled when he found that no one but himself \nwas thinking of the great rival of his brother.\" \n\n\nCHAPTER XV \n\n\nTWO HEROES OF PEACE \n\n\nUNDER this head I want to trace the \npicturesque career of Major Samuel Shaw, \nwho was America's first consul as well as \na pioneer in trade with China, and of Frederic \nTudor, of Boston, who first introduced ice into \nthe tropics. Both were men of the best Boston \ntype, and both are to-day honored by connections \nworthy in every sense of their fine ancestry. \n\nMajor Samuel Shaw was a native of the old \nNorth End, an officer of the Revolution and aid- \nde-camp of General Knox. He was the son of \nFrancis Shaw, a merchant. Many of the now \nnumerous family of that name trace their ancestry \nto Francis Shaw, through the brothers of the \nfirst American consul, for Major Shaw had no \nchildren. \n\nCanton, China, was the post to which our \nfirst consul was sent out. Major Shaw's appoint- \nment was made by Congress on the first day of \nJanuary, 1786. He was reappointed by Wash- \nington in 1792. Quaint and striking are the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 381 \n\ndetails of how lie travelled to his post in a slow- \ngoing merchant ship, and was nearly six montlis \nat sea. Details of this voyage and of others \ntaken by him, to the far east, are contained in \nhis journal, which, with a memoir by Josiah \nQuincy, was published in Boston in 1847. \n\nThe war had left him, as it did most of the \npatriot officers, poor in purse, and it was under \nthe necessity of starting in business, that Major \nShaw turned his attention to China as a promis- \ning field for American enterprise. He made a \nvoyage thither in 1784 in a ship belonging to \nRobert Morris of Philadelphia, called the Em- \npress of China. She was only three hundred and \nsixty tons, but was accounted a large ship in \nthose days, and carried a crew of forty-three \nmen and a good armament of guns and light \narms, for freebooters were still met on the high \nseas, and the pirates of Algeria scoured the \nAtlantic in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands, \nby way of which most ships passed to the Cape \nof Good Hope. \n\nThe Empress of China was the first American \nship to carry the flag to China, and INIajor Shaw, \nas her supercargo, deemed some government \ncredentials necessaiy. He, therefore, applied \nto Congress, then sitting at Annapolis, for a *' sea \nletter,\" which was granted. This document is \na curiosity in these days. It ran as follows : \n\n\" Most serene, serene, most puissant, puissant. \n\n\n382 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nhigh, illustrious, noble, honorable, venerable, \nwise and prudent emperors, kings, republics, \nprinces, dukes, earls, barons, lords, burgo- \nmasters, counselors, as also judges, officers, \njusticiaries and regents of all the good cities \nand places, whether ecclesiastical or secular, \nwho shall see these presents or hear them read: \nWe, the United States, in congress assembled — ■ \nmake known — that John Green, captain of \nthe ship called the Empress of China, is a citizen \nof the United States of America, and that the \nship which he commands beloilgs to citizens of \nthe said United States, and as we wish to see \nthe said John Green prosper in his lawful affairs, \nour prayer is to all the before mentioned, and to \neach of them separately, when the said John \nshall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they \nmay please to receive him with goodness and \ntreat him in a becoming manner, permitting him \nupon the usual tolls and expenses in passing and \nrepassing, to pass, navigate and frequent the \nports where and in what manner he shall judge \nproper. \n\n*' Whereof we shall be willingly indebted.\" \nThe Empress carried out a cargo of fine ship \ntimber, rum and ginseng, a vegetable root much \nprized by the Chinese for medicine. She had \nan uneventful voyage out, and returned the fol- \nlowing May to New York laden with tea and \nsilk. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 383 \n\nOn his return her enterprising young super- \ncargo addressed a letter to Congress, telling it \nall about the state of trade in the east, and the \nreception accorded him and the flag by the vari- \nous representatives of European nations he had \nmet and by the Chinese. \n\nCongress read the letter, and directed the \nsecretary of state to reply to Major Shaw \" that \ncongress feels a peculiar satisfaction in the suc- \ncessful issue of the first effort of the citizens of \nAmerica to establish a direct trade with China, \nwhich does so much honor to its undertakers \nand conductors.\" \n\nShortly after his return, Major Shaw was \nappointed a secretary in the war department, \nunder General Knox, but after a few months, \nprojecting another voyage to China, he resigned \nthis position and engaged to go out as supercargo \non the ship Hope, with merchandise for the \nDutch settlement at Batavia, Java, and for \nCanton. \n\nAmerican trade having begun in the east, it \nwas deemed expedient to have the country \nrepresented there by a consul, and Major Shaw \nwas accordingly appointed \" with neither salary, \nfees nor perquisites.\" \n\nThe Hope, carrying the new consul as one of \nher company, left New York Feb. 4, 1786. \nEverything went well until the last of \ntlie month, when a peculiar accident occurred, \n\n\n384 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwliicli is thus described in Major Shaw's \njournal : \n\n\" While at dinner we were alarmed by a cry \nof fire. And in a few moments saw the main \ntopmast all in a blaze. \n\n*' The ship was immediately brought to, and, \nnotwithstanding every endeavor to extinguish \nthe fire, it raged with such violence as to oblige \nus to cut away the topmast, and thereby relieve \nourselves of much anxiety, as the wind was \nexceedingly fresh, and consequently the ship \nin not a little danger. \n\n\" This fire was probably occasioned by the \nfriction of the runner of the main topsail tie. \nIt is remarkable that the topmast, in falling, \nstove in, with its burning end, the arm-chest upon \ndeck, in which were some horns filled with \npowder, and thence, without doing further \ninjury, rebounded overboard,\" \n\nThis was not the only excitement the young \nconsul had on his first official voyage. A few \ndays after this incident a sail was discovered \napproaching. Says the journal: \n\n\" We were suspicious of her being an Algerine, \nand accordingly showed English colors. But \nthis civility on our part did not answer the \ndesired purpose, for no sooner had she gained \nour wake than she put about and stood for us \nwith all sail. Our mainmast head had been so \nsprung in a gale of wind as to render carrying \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 385 \n\nsail on it extremely hazardous. But it was no \ntime to hesitate; the main tack was got aboard, \nand in the course of three or four hours we had \nthe satisfaction to find that we outsailed her. \nThe next morning she was not in sight. \n\n\" In the meantime, every exertion was made \nto fish the mast, which was scarcely secured, at \nsunset, when the same sail hove in sight, but \nnight coming on we saw no more of her.\" \n\nOn April 17 another and similar sail appeared. \n\" She came under our lee, hove about, and gave \nus chase, being a poleacre-rigged snow.\" \n\nThe Hope outsailed the rover and arrived \nsafely at Batavia on the Fourth of July. Here \nthe Americans saw something of native life and \nmuch of the Dutch ofiicials. They sailed July \n23 for China, and on August 10 arrived at Macao, \nthe Portuguese settlement, and in due time at \nCanton. Here were found forty-five European \nships and four American, as follows: The sloop \nExperiment of New York, Capt. Dean; ship \nCanton of Philadelphia, Truxton; Empress of \nChina, New York, Green, and Grand Turk, \nSalem, West. \n\nThis was the first fleet of American merchant \nships in China. Major Shaw addressed himself \nassiduously to his business, and gave also of \nhis time to put before the Chinese some knowl- \nedge of Americans. \n\nAs a consul Major Shaw proved a worthy \n\n\n386 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nrepresentative of his country. He was refined, \neducated and industrious, of a winning per- \nsonality and keen wit, a ready conversationalist \nin several languages, a scholar in Latin and a \nshrewd observer of men. His reports to the \nstate department were models of clearness, \nand contained much valuable information, the \nresult of researches by a mind naturally acquisi- \ntive and subtle. \n\nIn 1787 he planned a business trip to India, \nand proceeded to Macao to get passage. The \nuncertainty of sea travel in that part of the world \nin those days is illustrated by the fact that, \nfailing to get passage in the desired ship. Major \nShaw was obliged to remain inactive six months \nin Macao before he could proceed on his journey. \n\nHe finally sailed for Bengal in January, 1788, \nreturning to Canton in September of the same \nyear. In 1789 Major Shaw undertook another \nsix months voyage home, arriving at Newport, \nRhode Island, July 5, 1789. \n\nOn his arrival in Boston he found that his \nbrother Francis, who had settled in Gouldsboro, \nMaine, had died in his absence, leaving a family. \nMajor Shaw took under his protection two of \nhis brother*s sons, one of whom, Robert Gould \nShaw, became a well-known Boston merchant. \nAnother, Francis, was the father of Colonel \nRobert Gould Shaw, whose valor as leader of \nthe colored regiment in the Civil War is so \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 387 \n\nbeautifully commemorated in St. Gauden's \nbronze which stands before the State House in \nBoston. \n\nDuring INIajor Shaw's absence he had placed \nan order for a ship for his own account, which \nwas built at Germantown, Quincy, on land now \nowned by the Sailors' Snug Harbor. This ship, \nthe Massachusetts, was between eight and nine \nhundred tons, and was the largest merchant \nvessel built in the country up to her time. Her \nlaunching in September, 1789, was the occasion \nof a great gathering. Commanders of English \nand French warships then in Boston harbor at- \ntended, and praised the qualities of the new ship. \n\nMajor Shaw sailed on the Massachusetts for \nChina, March 28, 1790. There he sold the ship \nto agents of the Portuguese government, and \ninvested the proceeds in a cargo of goods for \nIndia and Belgium. Seeing that cargo safely \ntransported and sold, he returned to America, \narriving home from Ostend in 1792. \n\nHere he married, on August 21, 1792, Hannah, \nthe daughter of William Phillips, a Boston \nmerchant. But, so pressing were his business and \nofficial engagements in China that he was soon \nobliged to sail away from his bride of a few \nmonths on w^hat proved to be his last voyage. \nHe left New York on February 19, 1793, arri- \nving in Canton the following November, after a \nhard passage. \n\n\n388 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThe climate ol* China had aheady made its \nmark upon him, and that winter his health \nfailed completely. Despairing of recovery there, \nhe embarked for home March 17, 1794, on the \nship Washington. \n\nOn May 30, off the Cape of Good Hope, he \nbreathed his last, gazing at the miniature of his \nwife fastened over the foot of his berth. His \nlast words were, \" God's will be done.\" His \nbody was consigned to the deep. \n\nHis wife, anxiously awaiting his return, re- \nceived no forewarning of her loss, which was \nbroken to her in a letter sent from New York, \nwhere the ship arrived in August, by a friend \nwho was with Major Shaw in his last hours. She \nsurvived her husband thirty-nine years, dying, \nJanuary 24, 1833, at Dedham and mourning to \nthe last her brave young bridegroom, who in so \ntrue a sense, had been a hero of peace. \n\nThe luxury of ice in summer seems to-day a \nmere commonplace, yet it was only one hundred \nyears ago that Frederic Tudor of Boston de- \nvoted a fortune and twenty years of his life to \nthe introduction of ice into the tropics. In the \npossession of his grandson, the present Frederic \nTudor, there is a journal-record of this remark- \nable business enterprise, and to read there the \nstory of the ice-pioneer's struggles, as his own \ngraphic pen portrayed them, is to be convinced \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 389 \n\nthat there are very real possibilities of romance \nin business. \n\nThe book is a small leather covered volume \nfilled with lined paper upon which, in a close \nthough fairly plain hand, one may follow all \nthe ups and downs of what then appeared to be \na Quixotic enterprise. For it should be borne in \nmind that it was belief in the good which the \ncommon use of ice would do those who live in \nwarm countries quite as much as the hope of \nlarge gains which nerved Frederic Tudor for \nhis great fight against weather conditions and \nthe corroding scorn of sceptics. \n\nThe Tudor family is one of the first in New \nEngland, and it was scarcely less distinguished \none hundred years ago than it is to-day. The \nice-pioneer's father was Colonel William D. \nTudor, who served on Washington's staff, and \nhis mother was the lady constantly referred to \nas \" Mrs. Tudor \" in the writings of the Marquis \nde Chastellux, — a woman of such intelligence \nand literary gifts that she was once personally \ncomplimented by Marie Antoinette for some \nFrench verses she had written. The story of \nthe courtship of these two was a charming \nRevolutionary romance. He was the eldest son \nof Deacon John Tudor, the prosperous baker \nwhose Diary has already been quoted, and having \nbeen graduated from Harvard in 1769, he entered \nthe law ofiice of John Adams. Adams, a good \n\n\n390 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nlover himself, soon perceived that his young \nfriend was not happy, and he seems to have \npromptly suspected the cause. So he wrote to \nthe youth's father a very kind letter, pleading \nthat he make things financially easy for his son, \nwhom he praised highly for his \" clear head and \nhonest faithful heart.\" His good offices would, \nin all probability, not have been wasted had not \nBoston, just then, been shut up by the Siege. \n\nWilliam Tudor, though a patriot, stayed on \nin the town for the very simple reason that he \nwas in love with Delia Jarvis, a Tory maiden, \nwho was so far from any sympathy with her own \ncountry that her family still continued to use the \ntabooed tea. Delia herself is said to have served \nthe forbidden beverage to the British troops after \nthe skirmish at Lexington! ^Vllen there came \nopen warfare, however, the young patriot lawyer \ncould no longer stand idly by, girl or no girl, so \nhe escaped to Cambridge by way of Point \nShirley, and was soon elected by Washington \nJudge Advocate General of all the forces with \nthe rank of Colonel. \n\nFrom the patriot camp at Cambridge in spite \nof the diflSculty of communication he continued \nto woo the Tory maiden of his choice. He was \nwont to swim from the mainland to Noddle's \nIsland (East Boston) where she and her people \nwere then staying carrying his clothing upon \nhis head! His letters to her were addressed \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 391 \n\n\" My fair loyalist \" and hers to him were signed \n\" Your devoted rebel.\" They were married \nearly in 1778 and he retired from the army to \ndevote himself to domestic life and the practice \nof his profession. In this he prospered greatly, \nacquiring, before many years, a town house on \nCourt Street and a country home at Saugus (the \nlatter house still stands and is now the poor- \nfarm of the place). \n\nIn the last decade of the eighteenth century \nColonel Tudor made a journey to France, visit- \ning London on his return trip. There he was \npresented to King George IV, and the following \nincident is related to have occurred. When his \nname was pronounced to the king, the latter \nlooked up quickly and said \" What, one of us .'^ \" \nThen, receiving the information that Colonel \nTudor had just returned from France, the king \nentered into a long conversation with him con- \ncerning the state of affairs in that country. \nWliereupon Lord Galloway, who had many other \npeople to present, said impatiently \" His Majesty \nseems so deeply engaged with his cousin that he \nforgets what a number of people are in waiting \nto be presented ! \" The king, however, continued \nhis conversation until he had concluded his \ninquiries. \n\nThe Tudors were always interesting people \nto talk to! The enthusiasm of the Marquis de \nChastellux over Mrs. Tudor, with which we \n\n\n392 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmet in an earlier chapter, is remarkable, but it \nappears to have been well founded. After she \nhad happily married her colonel she became a \ngood patriot and turned to the service of her \ncountry and of her adventurous son her literary \ngifts and remarkable mental attainments. She \nwas long one of the social celebrities of Boston, \nand is said to have learned the Italian language \nafter her eightieth year that she might help \nFrederic's tropical enterprises. When she was \nninety she wrote a really excellent poem about \nthe battle of Bunker Hill, on the occasion of the \ncompletion of the monument, in whose erection \nher son William had been deeply interested. \n\nColonel Tudor and his gifted wife had four \nsons and two daughters. Of the sons all went \nto Harvard except Frederic, and of the daugh- \nters one married Commodore John Stewart of \nthe Ironsides and the other Robert Gardiner, \nfor whom the town of Gardiner, Maine, is named. \nThe Stewarts' daughter married Charles Parnell \nand it was their son, Charles Stewart Parnell, \nwho became the famous Irish agitator. His \nsister's body lies, as is fitting, in the underground \nburial vault of the Tudor family at Mt. Auburn \ncemetery, and honors are occasionally paid to \nit there by loyal Irish patriots. \n\nThe ice business seems to have interested \nFrederic Tudor while he was still only a boy. \nHis family owned an estate of some two hundred \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 393 \n\nand fifty acres out in Saugus, and it was on the \ntiny pond near the almshouse there that his \nfirst experiments in the cutting and storing of \nice were made. Wlien he was twenty-two \nFrederic became the owner of a West Indiaman \nlarge enough to carry some ice, and it was soon \nafter this that he took his first crop to Martinique. \nEnlisted with him in the enterprise at the start \nwere his cousin James Savage and his brother \nWilliam Tudor, the latter well known in Boston \nas one of the founders of the Boston Athenaeum, \na prime mover in the Bunker Hill Monument \nproject and first editor of the North American \nReview, \n\nBoth Tudors were only soldiers of fortune, \nhowever, when that first cargo of ice set sail. \nOn the cover of the little brown journal there \nappears, beside the date 1805, this significant \ninscription: \" He who gives back at the first \nrepulse and, without striking the second blow, \ndespairs of success has never been, is not and \nnever will be a hero in war, love or business.\" \nIt is because the pages of the journal are full of \nsuch philosophy as this as well as of unusual \nentries concerning profit and loss that the book \nis of absorbing interest. \" A glorious enterprise \nrich in promise,\" is the entry of the buoyant trader \non one day. The next we find \" People only \nlaugh and believe me not when I tell them I am \ngoing to carry ice to the West Indies.\" This was \n\n\n394 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nentirely true. It was only with the greatest \ndifficulty that sailors could be persuaded to \nsail with the cargo. They thought that the ice \nmust surely melt and swamp the boat. \n\nEven the press ridiculed the enterprise. A \nBoston paper of February 20, 1806, contains this \nparagraph: \" No joke: A vessel has cleared at \nthe Custom House for Martinique with a cargo \nof ice. We hope this will not prove a slippery \nspeculation.\" Yet that was exactly what it \ndid prove. Careful as Frederic Tudor had been \nto obtain the exclusive privilege of importing, \nand selling ice in the tropics for the next ten \nyears, he found that only loss and not profit \nawaited him. Real ice was first used at St. \nMartinique on March 6, 1806, having sold for \nthirty cents a pound, but the people could not \nbe educated to appreciate the commodity. \nMoreover, there were no ice-houses in which to \nstore his goods, no subscriptions with which to \nbuild up further importations, and so the ice \ncargo melted unprofitably away. \" I found my- \nself,\" says the journal, \" without money and \nwithout friends, and with only a cargo of ice \nin a torrid zone to depend on for the supply of \nboth.\" The \" plan \" our enthusiast pronounced \ngood but he recorded as well that his loss that \nfirst year was four thousand dollars and that, as \nscion of a distinguished family, he had not \nexactly enjoyed being arrested on the street \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 395 \n\nfor a debt of two hundred dollars which he had \nno possible means of paying. \n\nIn three years the young man lost the then \nvery large sum of twenty-five thousand dollars \nin his ice ventures at Martinique. Then followed \nsoon the disturbances which preceded the war of \n1812, and which were, of course, particularly \nfatal to an enterprise of his sort. The war over, \nwe find him doggedly pushing his scheme, \nhowever, trying to pull himself up by his boot \nstraps, as it were. \" I have again and again,\" \nhe writes, \" recovered spirit to proceed in this \nundertaking through a long course of distressing \ndisappointments in which I have for ten years \nexperienced bankruptcy, poverty, ill health, \nweak nerves, and the consolation of a prison. \nShould I fail in this attempt it will be the last. \nHope will die should the man survive.\" It \nwas about this time that he wrote his mother \nthat his income w^ould be fifty thousand dollars \nannually in five years should his plans prosper. \n\nBesides the problem of getting his ice, — much \nof which was cut at his brother-in-law's place in \nGardiner, — and conveying it to the countries \nwhere he had w^orked hard to obtain the exclu- \nsive privilege of such importation, Tudor was \nconfronted with the enormous difficulty of per- \nsuading people in the tropics that for them ice was \na necessity as well as a luxury. The advertising \nput out to this end is often quite entertaining in \n\n\n396 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nits explicitness. The journal contains one \nclipping from a Charleston, North Carolina, \npaper which reads as follows under the big \nhead-line \" Ice.\" \n\n\" The Ice establishment at Fitzsimon's wharf \nis now opened. Ice will be for sale at all hours \nof the day, from sunrise to sundown, except \nwhen the Ice House Keeper is necessarily absent \nat his meals. It will be sold in any quantity \nfrom one pound to 500 pounds. The Ice House \nwill be open a few hours on Sunday morning. \nThe price will be eight and a third cents a pound \nwith an allowance of four per centum to those \nwho purchase largely or by tickets. The price \nat which ice is now offered in Charleston is as \nlow as it was in the northern cities when the \narticle was first introduced in them in the summer \nseason; and when it is remembered that the \ncapital invested in this undertaking falls very \nlittle short of $10,000 and the very great waste \nwhich must necessarily take place in the best \nconstructed ice-house it must be apparent that \nthe profit cannot be more than reasonable how- \never great the consumption may be. The \ninhabitants therefore are invited to call for ice \nin such quantities as shall enable the proprietor \nof the house to continue the present price which \ncannot be the case unless ice is used rather as a \nnecessary of life than as a luxury. \n\n\" The best method of carrying ice in a small \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 397 \n\nquantity,\" the advertisement kindly goes on to \nexplain, \" is to wrap it in a blanket. These may \nbe had at the ice-house of sufficient size at $1. \nOf the mode of keeping ice best when it is carried \nliome it is to be observed that it should be kept \nin that part of the house which is least cool, \nthat is to say in a dry closet where there is no \ncirculation of air .... it is a well attested \nprinciple that whatever will keep a man warm, \nwith the exception of the sun and fire, will keep \nice cold.\" \n\nThe price to each family for ice service was \nten dollars a month. The best plan of payment, \nit was added, was by means of tickets, \" for \nthere have been instances where negroes have \nbeen detected in holding back one half of the \nmoney sent and attributing the small quantity \nof ice returned to its thawing on the way.\" \n\nFortunately for his sanity Frederic Tudor \npreserved a fine sense of humor through all his \ntroubles. After striking a fairly good bargain \nwith a man in Cuba he writes in the diary: \n\" Thus is the winter of my discontent made \nglorious summer and all the clouds that lowered \nupon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean \nburied. Drink, Spaniards and be cool, that I \nwho have suffered so much in the cause may be \nable to go home and keep myself warm.\" A \nlittle later he writes, this time after an unsuc- \ncessful struggle with conditions: \"Should I \n\n\n398 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ncome again to Havana I will record no more of \nmy groans at the sufferings I sustain here. They \nought to be sustained by any man who will \ncome here while he can in any way exist at \nhome.\" \n\nIt was while in the throes of a mood like this \nthat Tudor invested \" one good dollar \" with \nseventy -one dollars he had found in a bag stowed \naway in one of the ice tubs and bought a lot of \nlottery tickets in a venture where, as he knew, \nthere were one hundred and thirty blanks to \neach purse. \" But should I draw all blanks,\" \nhe observed, \" I am still determined to have a \nticket in every lottery while I remain here. \nHaving met with so much misfortune on good \ncalculation I mean to try if nothing is to be got \nupon a bad calculation.\" \n\nIt was at about this stage of his career that \nTudor put to himself, Amiel-like, a very inter- \nesting question and answer: ''Question: Had \nyou not better entirely abandon this ice busi- \nness ? It is a subject which wears out body \nand mind while it prevents you from having \nthat standing among your fellow men which \nyou deserve. It occupies all your attention and \nappears at best subject to great hazard. In \nthe course of twelve years' pursuit you have \narrived at little certainty and there can be \nlittle doubt that the exertions which you have \nmade in this business would have given you a \n\n\nllllif|II^JIi|lllilWp||li||l \n\n\n!> \\ \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 399 \n\nbetter situation and the confidence of others \nwhich you are now without. You stand at best \nas a well-intentioned schemer and projector \nwhen you might, with a more regular applica- \ntion to common mercantile business, become a \nmore useful and respected member of society. \nIt is not too late, you are not yet 36 years old \nand you may yet get back into the old road. Sell \nout in the best way you can and become a regu- \nlar man. \n\n*' Answer: The suggestions of doubt are \ntoo late. . . My reputation is now so far pledged \nthat I must advance, and should I be able to \nsecure Savannah and New Orleans I am tolerably \ncertain of doing very handsomely. I, therefore, \nthrow away every discouraging thought and de- \ntermine to push on with as much exertion as I \ncan command and endeavor to deserve suc- \ncess.\" \n\nNot long after this the success so devotedly \nstruggled for really began to arrive. A liberal \nfortune, as well as the satisfaction of know- \ning that he had brought to inhabitants of a \ntropical climate that which must often mean to \nthem life as well as luxury, were Tudor 's re- \nward for his years of sacrifice. He was now a \nmiddle-aged man, but he was so fortunate — \nwhen he settled down in Boston, — as to win \nthe love of a charming girl of nineteen, a Miss \nFenno of New York, interesting to us not only \n\n\n400 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\non her own account but because it was her uncle, \nCharles Jones Fenno, whom Rebecca Gratz \n(Scott's Rebecca in \" Ivanhoe \") loved. Miss \nGratz was the close friend of Matilda Hoffman, \nit will be remembered; it was in her arms that \nthe lovely girl, to whom Washington Irving was \ndevoted to the exclusion of all others, died at \nthe age of eighteen. Henceforth the bond \nbetween Miss Gratz and Irving was peculiarly \nstrong. And it was Irving, as everybody knows, \nwho, while visiting Scott, told the author of \n\" Waverley \" Rebecca's story and so presented \nhim with his jSnest woman character. \n\nFor a summer home Frederic Tudor built \nthe house which is now the home of the Nahant \nClub, and there he set out the handsome trees \nwhich to-day adorn \" cold roast Boston.\" Long- \nfellow in his Journal gives us a charming picture \nof the ice hero in his old age : \" Met Mr. Tudor \nclimbing over a stone fence [at Nahant] with \nsnow white hair, a red cravat and blue coat with \nbrass buttons. He showed us his wheat-field \nby the sea. Having heard it said that wheat \nwould not grow in such a place he is determined \nto make it grow there.\" Evidently Tudor's \nadventurous spirit had not been really dampened \nby his years of discouraging experiment with ice \nin the tropics! \n\n\nCHAPTER XVI \n\nSOCIAL LIFE IN THE TRANSITION PERIOD \n\nOH that our young ladies were as dis- \ntinguished for the beauties of their \nminds as they are for the charms of \ntheir persons!\" wrote John Quiney Adams \nwhen a young man. \" But alas! too many of \nthem are like a beautiful apple that is insipid to \nthe taste.\" Which shows that at the end of the \neighteenth century and the beginning of the \nnineteenth Boston women were renowned for \nother than intellectual possessions. That our \nperiod could boast of a few women who united \ncharms of person with those of mind we have \nalready seen, to be sure; young Quiney Adams's \nown mother offers one example of this happy \ncombination, and there was the Mrs. Tudor \nover whom the Marquis de Chastellux waxed \nenthusiastic, not to mention Mercy Warren and \nher group of friends. These women, however, \nwere the exceptions. Most of the girls of that \nday were educated to shine in a drawing-room \nand nowhere else. \n\n\n402 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nThat they did shine there is undeniable. The \nfirst Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, who was born \nSally Foster, appears to have been very richly \nendowed with social grace and beauty. She \nmarried on May 15, 1790, the great orator who \nbecame second mayor of Boston, and she soon \nwas occupying a prominent place in the repub- \nlican court circles of that day as well as in Boston. \nFor her husband was elected to Congress after \nthe retirement of Fisher Ames in 1797. Mrs. \nGovernor Bowdoin and Mrs. Thomas Lindall \nWinthrop were other lovely women prominent \nin the \" society \" of the day. \n\nThe gayeties of Boston town, as seen through \nthe eyes of a lady who was a part of them, have \nbeen alluringly described by Josiah P. Quincy, \nin his valuable chapter on \" Social Life in Bos- \nton,\" (contributed to the fourth volume of the \n*' Memorial History \") : \"In the regions of \nfashion dancing still continues the rage,\" de- \nclares this sprightly observer January 2, 1807. \n*' Private balls are numerous, and little cotillion \nparties occur every Week. The dancing disease \nhaving gradually ascended till it reached the \nmiddle-aged, now begins to descend on the other \nside of the hill and attacks the old. . . . The \npublic balls were quite neglected except the \nlast, which, being the first of January, was \ncrowded and brilliant, — though not, say the \nfashionables, very genteel. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 403 \n\n\" The night before last, as my cold was \nbetter,\" continues our society girl of the period, \n\" I ventured to Mrs. James Perkins's, who gave \na ball to more than two hundred people. The \ncompany, though large, was not mixed but con- \nsisted of all the respectable people in town, with \ntheir children and in some cases grandchildren. \nIt was very pleasant, well-conducted and per- \nfectly satisfactory to all tastes. They had \ndancing for the young, cards and conversation \nfor the old and for those who love eating an \nexcellent collation of solid good things in the \nside-board style.\" \n\nFor ice-cream was not yet in vogue at private \nparties. There was no system in Boston for \nstoring the abundant products of New England \nwinters which Frederic Tudor was so heroically \nshipping south. And the age of essences was \nyet to come. The single confectioner on New- \nbury (now Washington) Street who served the \nfrozen dainty to ladies and their escorts, after \na performance at the theatre, or in the course \nof an afternoon's shopping, was obliged to \nremind his customers, through the medium of \nthe press, that \" the fruit-flavors of raspberry, \nstrawberry, currant and pineapple \" could be \nfurnished only in the seasons of those produc- \ntions. For men who needed special refreshment \nthere was more ample provision; they could go \nto Vila's, the Shakespeare Coffee House in \n\n\n404 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nWater Street, or to the more aristocratic restau- \nrant of Julien. Julien had been a cook in the \nfamily of Dubuque, a refugee from the French \nRevolution, who occupied, at one time, the \nShirley mansion in Roxbury. Wliile in this \n\n\njulien's \n\n\nsituation he saved enough to start the first \n\" Restorator '* of which Boston could boast. \nIt is to him that we owe the agreeable soup \nwhich bears his name and now graces menu \ncards the country over. \n\nWlien the trouble with England began to \nloom large on the horizon, early in the nineteenth \ncentury, Boston keenly felt its gloom. But the \n\n\n5 ffi \n\n\nBEACOX HILL AND ITS .MO N r .\\il, S 1. \nPage 413 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 405 \n\nsocial spirit of the place refused to be dampened. \n\" We seem determined to imitate our present \nallies and future masters by dancing away our \ncares,\" writes the young lady already quoted, \n\" Mr. Samuel Welles's ball was splendid and \ntasteful; it was honored by the presence of the \nmost brilliant collection of beauties that has \nappeared in public for many years. The ladies \nwere dressed with much taste. The degree of \nlight was adjusted with happy skill to suit their \ncomplexions. Transparent paintings and flowers \nwhose bright hues were reflected from mirrors \ngave lustre to the scene. The supper was highly \nelegant; the table [spread for three hundred!] \nwas covered with the luxuries of every clime and \nevery season. Summer was robbed of its flowers \nand autumn of its fruits to embellish this winter \nfete. Fine peaches, blushing with the glow of \nSeptember, and a variety of melons were pre- \nserved with great care and expense for this \ngallant occasion. \n\n\" The Turkish band in their elegant costume \nshared the honors of the night, and divided with \nthe ladies the tribute of approbation. The grace \n\nof Peter in playing the cymbals and of Mrs. \n\nin dancing cotillions received equal applause. \nMr. Welles acquitted himself with great pro- \npriety and all went off with eclat except the \ntoasts which were rather flat. The gentlemen \nwere not prepared to be either witty or scnti- \n\n\n406 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nmental, and impromptus suit the genius of the \nFrench better than that of the English or their \nAmerican descendants. Mr. Otis alone was \nhappy on this occasion: his wit is ever ready.\" \n\nRobert Treat Paine was another Bostonian \nM'ho understood the delicate turning of a toast. \nOne of his to the famous beauties of the Fowie \nfamily in Watertown ran: \n\n\n\" To the fair of every town \n\nAnd the Fowle of Watertown.\" \n\n\nIt was Wont to be drunk reverently, all standing, \nby the gallants of the period. \n\nWhen peace was proclaimed, early in 1815, \nthe joy of the Bostonians knew no bounds. It \nis pleasant to be able, through Mr. Quincy, to \nfollow the subsequent festivities as they were \nenjoyed by a young girl, still under twenty. \n\n\" Monday, February 13, 1815 — After break- \nfast all the bells began to ring. I asked mamma \nwhat it meant and she said that she supposed it \n\nmust be a town meeting. Suddenly burst \n\ninto the room, exclaiming, ' Do you know what the \nbells are ringing for ^ Peace ! Peace ! ! Peace ! ! ! \nWe thought her out of her senses and papa went \nout to learn the truth. He soon returned and \ntold us that it was indeed true and that the whole \ntown was in an uproar about it. We felt that \nwe could not stay at home so we ordered the \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 407 \n\nsleigh and set forth. First we went through \nCornhill, then past the Common and through \nthe Main street down to the North End. The \nstreets were crowded : in State street you might \nhave walked upon the people's heads. Almost \nevery house had a flag on it and in some places \nthey were strung across the streets. \n\n\" We then rode again over the town and met \nseveral companies of soldiers. In the main \nstreet we met a company followed by three sleds \neach drawn by fifteen horses. A man was in \nthe front of each with the word Peace printed \nin large capitals on his hat. These sleds were \nfull of sailors who, just as they came up, gave \na most tremendous huzza, which was echoed \nby the immense crowd about us. The ladies \nwere running about the streets as if they did \nnot know what they were doing; the gentlemen \nwere shaking hands and wishing each other joy. \nAll this time bells were ringing, cannons firing, \nand drums beating. I never saw such a scene. \nThe joy of the poorer classes, who had suffered \nso much, was quite affecting. \n\n\" February 23, 1815 — The Oratorio in cele- \nbration of peace was performed yesterday morn- \ning at the Stone Chapel. We obtained seats \nnear the altar and were joined by Mrs. S. G. \nPerkins and her two daughters. The Church \nwas crowded; and the presence of several \nBritish officers in full uniform gave ocular \n\n\n408 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\ndemonstration that peace had come. After the \nservices we went to the balcony of the house of \nMrs. Lowell, senior, in Common street, to see \nthe procession. Representatives of all the \ntrades were drawn on sleds, with appropriate \n\n\nINTERIOR OF KING S CHAPEL \n\n\ninsignia, and carrying their tools. The brick- \nlayers, were building a house; they broke their \nbricks and worked busily. The carpenters were \nerecting a Temple of Peace. The printers \nstruck off hand-bills announcing ' Peace! ' and \nthrew them among the crowd. The bakers, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 409 \n\nhatters, paper-makers and others had each \ntheir insignia. At six o'clock in the evening \nAVe drove in the sleigh over the town to see the \nilluminations of all the public edifices and of \nmany private houses. The fireworks consisted \nof rockets thrown from the roof of the State \nHouse, which was decorated with transparencies. \nOn each side of the pediment was a pine-tree, \nand a star in the centre of all of fireworks; and \nas the star exploded the word ' Peace ' appeared. \nThe celebration passed off without accident and \nwas highly successful.\" \n\nOf course there had to be a ball in honor of \nthis epoch-making event. It was held on the \nevening of February 23, in Concert Hall and our \nentertaining young friend, after hesitating for \nsome time as to whether she could go to a public \nball, decided that she must go, — and went. \n\" My dress,\" she writes, \" was a sheer dotted \nmuslin skirt, trimmed with three rows of plaited \nwhite satin ribbon an inch wide. The bodice \nof white satin was also trimmed with the same \nribbon. I wore white lace around the neck, a \nbouquet, gold ornaments, chain etc. My hair \nwas arranged in braids, bandeau and curls. \nThe building was illuminated within and with- \nout and was decorated with flags and flowers; \nthe effect was beautiful. The band stationed \nin a balcony above was playing as we entered. \nA platform surrounded the floor of the hall and \n\n\n410 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nupon this we secured seats with Mrs. R. Sullivan \nand Mrs. S. G. Perkins and her daughters; we \nhad much amusement in observing the company. \nSeveral British officers in full uniform were \nactively employed in ffirting and dancing, not \nin the most graceful manner; they seemed \nfavorite partners among the young ladies. [When \ncould a girl resist brass buttons ?] I danced \nseveral cotillions contrary to my expectations \nas I was acquainted with few of the beaux. . . \". \n\nIt is interesting that the maiden in the sheer \nmuslin gown should have used this word ' beaux ' \nin speaking of the dancing men at the Peace \nBall. They were rather extraordinary creatures, \nthose beaux! A satirical communication upon \nthem which appears in the Centinal, not long \nbefore this date, preserves, despite obvious \nexaggerations, some of their curious traits. \n\" The dapper beau,\" says the article, \" wears a \nhat about the size of Aunt Tabby's snuff-box \nstuck upon the very crown of his head. In his \nhand he carries a stick of wood which seems to \nweary him very much, especially in summer.\" \nObviously this person was the progenitor of \nthe \" dude \" of the late nineteenth century. \n\nVisitors to Boston, having pretensions to \nfashion, were wont at this period to seek accom- \nmodations in the select boarding-houses. That of \nMrs. Carter, in a portion of the building at the \ncorner of Park and Beacon Streets was a favorite \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 411 \n\nresort. \" Mrs. Carter rejects twenty or thirty \nstrangers a day,\" says a letter bearing the date \nof August 20, 1800, \" yet still keeps the moderate \nnumber of sixty in her family. After the warmth \nof the day is over, we form animated groups ; we \nhad quite a romantic one last evening, sitting \non the grass by moonlight, with the accompani- \nment of a guitar and singing.\" \n\nFishing parties were a form of diversion much \nenjoyed. \" The gentlemen, sometimes by them- \nselves and sometimes in company with ladies,\" \nwrites a visitor, \" spend the day partly on the \nwater and partly on some of the islands in this \ndelightful harbor. I have been at one of these \nparties and assure you we had a high degree of \nsocial and friendly conviviality.\" Boston was \nthen an acknowledged summer resort, it will \nbe seen. The houses bordering upon the Com- \nmon were even considered so suburban that \nwhen (in 1804) Hon. John Phillips, father of \nWendell Phillips, built, at the corner of Walnut \nand Beacon Streets, the brick house still stand- \ning there and now occupied by the Misses Mason, \nhis uncle. Judge Oliver Wendell, was asked \nwhat in the world had induced his nephew \" to \nremove out of town.\" And it was only two \nyears before this the selectmen took it upon \nthemselves to forbid Sunday bathing at the foot \nof the Common. \n\nThere is no evidence that it was the bathing \n\n\n412 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nwhich was objectionable to the law-makers, \nhowever; the ordinance seems clearly, indeed, \nto have been aimed at those who could avail \nthemselves of this privilege only on Sunday. \nThe Centinal, therefore, printed this rhyming \nprotest : \n\n\" In Superstition's days, 'tis said \nHens laid two eggs on Monday, \nBecause a hen would lose her head \nThat laid an egg on Sunday. \n\n\" Now our wise rulers and the law \nSay none shall wash on Sunday; \nSo Boston folk must dirty go, \nAnd wash them twice on Monday.\" \n\nThe Sunday of this period extended from \nmidnight Saturday till six o'clock on the day \nitself. This did not mean that secular employ- \nments could be carried on in the evening, only \nthat the regulations concerning travel relaxed \nafter six. It was unlawful for any hired carriage \nto enter or leave Boston during the Sabbath, \nand during service no vehicle could move faster \nthan a walk. Very likely these laws were not \nfully enforced ; but there is a story that Governor \nHancock was once fined for taking a turn in the \nmall on his way home from church. \n\nAMiile we are in the vicinity of the Common \nlet us take note that the State House, as Bul- \nfinch originally designed it, was completed in 1798, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 413 \n\nthe tract having been passed by the town to the \nCommonwealth three years before, for a nominal \nconsideration of five shillings. Nearby on the \nhill there had been erected, in 1790, a monument, \ndesigned by Charles Bulfinch, to commemorate \nthe heroes of June seventeenth, and set up on \nthis site rather than any other to replace the \nold beacon which blew down in 1789. In 1811 \nthis monument was removed and the hill \nlevelled. Its tablets, written by Bulfinch him- \nself, may still be seen, on the sides of the hand- \nsome granite shaft which now perpetuates his \ndesign. Park Street Church and its graceful \nspire, designed by Peter Bonner, dates from \n1809. \n\nOne pride of Boston at this period, which \nhowever, was unfortunately destroyed prema- \nturely by fire, was the Exchange Coffee House, \nin Congress Square. The principal floor was \nintended to be used by the merchants as an \nExchange and the building was, therefore, far \nlarger than the travelling public of that day \ncalled for ; its erection occupied two and a half \nyears, and it cost half a million dollars! With \na front on Congress Street and entrances on \nState Street and Devonshire Street the house was \nadmirably situated for business purposes and \nwas very convenient also as the stopping place \nfor stages. But it never paid, and many of the \nmechanics, who had a share in building it, were \n\n\n414 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nruined by their failure to collect the money due \nthem for their labor. The town of Boston was \nnot yet developed to the point of filling a house \n\n\nPARK STREET CHURCH \n\n\nmth two hundred and ten apartments. Captain \nHull made the Exchange his quarters when he \nwas in port during the war of 1812, and when \nPresident Monroe visited the town, in July, \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 415 \n\n1817, he put up here. A sumptuous Fourth of \nJuly dinner was served for him here with ex- \npresident John Adams and Commodore Perry \namong the guests. But a fire destroyed the \nhouse in November 1818, and its proprietor, \nMr. Barnum, lost twenty -five thousand dollars! \nThe tavern and transportation conditions of \nBoston at this period might very well occupy \na book of their own, and inasmuch as I have \nelsewhere^ dealt with that subject at considerable \nlength, I shall just touch on it here. One very \ninteresting tavern-keeper was Israel Hatch, who \nalso ran a line of stages, and who lured cus- \ntomers to his house by the following sirens' song: \n\n\" My friends and travellers, you'll meet \nWith kindly welcome and good cheer, \nAnd what it is you now shall hear : \nA spacious house and liquors good, \nA man who gets his livelihood \nBy favours granted; hence he'll be \nAlways smiUng, always free: \nA good large house for chaise or chair, \nA stable well exposed to air : \nTo finish all and make you blest, \nYou'll have the breezes from the west. \nAnd — ye, who flee th' approaching Sol, \nMy doors are open to your call ; \nWalk in — and it shall be my care \nT' oblige the weary traveller. \nFrom Attleborough, Sirs, I came, \n\nP See \" Among Old New England Inns.\"] \n\n\n416 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nWhere once I did you entertain, \nAnd now shall here as there before \nAttend you at my open door. \nObey all orders with despatch, \n— Am, Sirs, your servant, \n\n\" Israel Hatch.\" \n\nIn 1798 Hatch kept the tavern at the south \ncorner of Mason Street shown in the view of the \nHay market Theatre. \n\nCaptain Levi Pease, who hailed from Shrews- \nbury, was another Yankee who made stage- \nrunning and tavern-keeping pay abundantly in \nthe Boston of this time. His house was on the site \nnow occupied by St. Paul's Church. At first going \nto New York by Pease line was by no means easy, \nif we may trust Josiah Quincy, who has left us a \ndescription of travel by stage under the auspices \nof this Jehu: \" I set out from Boston,\" he says, \n\" in the line of stages lately established by an \nenterprising Yankee Pease by name, which in \nthat day was considered a method of transporta- \ntion of wonderful expedition. The journey to \nNew York took up a week. The carriages were \nold and shackling and much of the harness made \nof ropes. One pair of horses carried the stage \neighteen miles. We generally reached our rest- \ning-place for the night, if no accident intervened, \nat ten o'clock, and after a frugal supper we went \nto bed with a notice that we should be called \nat three the next morning, which generally \n\n\nX y \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 417 \n\nproved to be half past two. Then, whether it \nsnowed or rained, the traveller must rise and \nmake ready by the help of a horn lantern and a \nfarthing candle, and proceed on his way over \nbad roads. . . . Thus we travelled eighteen miles \na stage, sometimes obliged to get out and help \nthe coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire \nor rut, and arrived at New York after a week's \nhard travelling, wondering at the ease as well \nas the expedition of our journey.\" \n\nAll this was much changed for the better, \nhowever, by the time of which we are now wri- \nting. For in 1808 the first Massachusetts turn- \npike was laid out from Boston to Worcester, as \na result of the enterprise of Captain Pease. \nAnd his horses, wagons and harnesses had for \na long time been very good. John Melish, who \ntravelled from Boston to New York by stage- \ncoach in 1806 declared *' the conveyance easy \nand in summer very agreeable.\" \n\nTo one of the inns in Boston there came, in \nthe early twenties, a Southern traveller, whose \nname has not come down to us, but with whose \ndescription of the women of the town this chapter \nmay very well close, because it harmonizes \nperfectly with a quotation used in our first para- \ngraph. *' The ladies,\" says our writer, — in \n'* Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the \nUnited States,\" — *' are not exceeded by any \non the continent; in accomplished manners \n\n\n418 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthey possess all the yielding softness of the \nSouthern ladies, with warmer hearts and minds \nimproved by travelling, most of them having \nmade the tour of Europe. Their countenance \nis diffused with a magic charm of irresistible \nsweetness, to which they join the utmost grace \nof gesture and harmony of voice. As to beauty, \nthe ladies of Boston are celebrated throughout \nthe world.\" High praise this, — so high I \ncan't help feeling that our young Alabamian was \ngeneralizing in his book from the charms of \nsome particular Boston girl who had captivated \nhis fancy. Still, there are abundant data in \npictures and tradition to prove that Boston \nwomen were very lovely early in the nineteenth \ncentury. \n\n\nCHAPTER XVII \n\nEARLY BOSTON THEATRES AND THEIR STARS \n\nCOTTON MATHER, in 1686, says in his \npreface to the \" Testimony against Pro- \nfane and Superstitious Customs: \" \" There \nis much discourse now of beginning stage plays \nin New England.\" Yet, for many years after \nthis sentence was written, activity in the matter \nof the drama was limited to \" discourse.\" The \ntreatment which was being accorded to actors \nin England was so little encouraging! \n\nThe first actual Boston performance of which \none can find record was that of Otway's \" Orphan \nor Unhappy Marriage \" held at the British \nCoffee House on State Street (then King Street) \nin 1750. The play on this occasion was given by \ntwo Englishmen assisted by some volunteers, \nand its presentation led to the immediate en- \nactment of \" An Act To Prevent Stage Plays \nand other Theatrical Entertainments \" which \nbecame a law in March, 1750. The framers of \nthe law gave themselves the satisfaction of \n\n\n420 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nstating that stage plays \" not only occasion \ngreat and unnecessary expenses, and discourage \nindustry and frugality, but likewise tend gen- \nerally to increase immorality, impiety and a \ncontempt for religion.\" As a matter of fact \nthere had been almost a theatrical riot at the \nparticular performance which had inspired this \nlaw. So many wanted to see the play and so \nfew could be accommodated, in the small room \nwhere the performance took place, that entrance \nbecame the right of those with the strongest \nshoulders and sharpest elbows. The town gaol \nwas the resting place, that night, of many of \nthese. \n\nBut though the prohibitory law stood stolidly \non the statute books, private performances, \nwhere no money was received, were tacitly \nexcepted from prosecution and so the habit of \nhaving such performances grew quietly in the \ntown. How this slowly accelerating theatrical \nimpulse found a pleasant and natural expression \nduring the Siege we have already seen. After \nthe departure of the British, however, the \nThespian spirit lay dormant for several years. \nYet that there was apprehension lest it should \nawaken may be seen from the following resolve, \npassed on October 16, 1778, in no less stately \nan assembly than the Continental Congress: \n\" Whereas frequenting play houses and theatrical \nentertainments has a fatal tendency to divert \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 421 \n\nthe minds of the people from a due attention \nto the means necessary to the defence of their \ncountry and preservation of their liberties, — \nResolved, That any person holding an office \nunder the United States who shall act, pro- \nmote, encourage, or attend any such play, \nshall be deemed unworthy to hold such office \nand shall be accordingly dismissed.\" \n\nThe sweep and severity of this act indicates \nthat the drama was pressing the patriots hard. \nSuch was indeed the case. Though the Revolu- \ntion was by no means over yet, its successful \noutcome seemed to many people assured and \nthey were already beginning to look forward to \na happy, prosperous period of reconstruction. \nWhen peace finally was declared dramatic \nliterature began to be read as never before. \nAnd to read Shakespeare is of course to wish \nto see Shakespeare acted. Moreover, many \nAmericans had witnessed Garrick's marvellous \nperformances in London, and others were \nreading in the English magazines about the work \nof John Philip Kemble. \n\nIn New York and Philadelphia theatres were \nalready in full swing, and drew their clientele \nfrom the best people. It was felt to be time for \nBoston to step into line ! Accordingly, a coterie \nof wealthy gentlemen of culture attempted to \neducate public sentiment to the point which \nwould permit the erection of a theatre. To this \n\n\n422 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nend the legislature was petitioned, in 1790, \nfor authority to open a place for the presentation \nof theatrical performances. Such permission \nwas promptly refused. Samuel Adams led the \nopposition. Relentlessly the old Puritan set \nhimself against any deviation from the letter of \nthe law, protesting in town meeting, with almost \nhis pristine vigor, against the motion to instruct \nrepresentatives to repeal the prohibitory act. \nWhen Harrison Gray Otis made an eloquent \nspeech on the same side Adams thanked God \n\" that there was one young man willing to step \nforth in the good old cause of morality and \nreligion.\" He continued his speech against the \nrepeal of the act until his weak voice was drowned \nin roars of disapproval. In spite of him, the \nmotion to instruct the representatives was \ncarried! Boston really wanted its playhouse. \nIt was urged that \" a theatre where the actions \nof great and virtuous men are represented, \nunder every possible embellishment which genius \nand eloquence can give, will not only afford a \nrational and innocent amusement, but essentially \nadvance the interests of private and political \nvirtue; will have a tendency to polish the man- \nners and habits of society, to disseminate the \nsocial affections, and to improve and refine the \nliterary taste of our rising Republic.\" Wlien the \nLegislature met in 1792 Mr. Tudor of Boston \nintroduced a bill to repeal the act prohibiting \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 423 \n\ntheatrical entertainments. The proposition was \npromptly rejected. A reconsideration was car- \nried but a protest sent in by some conservative \ninhabitants caused the vote to come out ninety- \nfive to forty -four in favor of keeping the pro- \nhibitory law among the statutes. \n\nTiiereupon, the dramatically inclined de- \ntermined to go ahead with their theatre, in spite \nof the law, and to prove that a playhouse was \nnot the objectionable institution some good \nBoston folk evidently believed it to be. A site \nwas selected in what is now Hawley Street but \nwhich was then known as Board Alley, — \nbecause originally only a short-cut path from \nState Street to Trinity Church on Summer \nStreet. It was a region, at this time, of mud and \nlivery stables; it was probably one of these \nstables that was fashioned into a theatre. Here \nat any rate a stage was erected, — and the \n*' New Exhibition Room \" became an accom- \nplished fact. Its first performance was on August \n1, 1792, and its manager Mr. Joseph Harper, \none of the prominent members of the firm of \nHallam and Henry, who were the Frohmans \nof that day. \n\nThe Bill at the opening of this first Boston \nplayhouse, — quoted from that very interesting \nbook, \"A Record of the Boston Stage,\" — is \nfull of color. It reads as follows; \n\n\n424 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nNEW EXHIBITION ROOM \n\nBOARD ALLEY \nFEATS OF ACTIVITY \n\nThis evening, the 10th of August, will be exhibited Dancing on \nthe Tight Rope by Monsieurs Plaeide and Martin. \nMons. Plaeide will dance a Hornpipe on a Tight \nRope, play the VioUn in various attitudes, and \njump over a cane backwards and forwards. \n\nINTRODUCTORY ADDRESS \n\nBy Mr. Harper \n\nSINGING \n\nBy Mr. Wools \n\nVarious feats of tumbling by Mons. Plaeide and Martin, who \n\nwill make somersetts backwards over a table, chair, &c. \n\nMons. Martin will exhibit several feats on the Slack Rope. \n\nIn the course of the Evening's Entertainments will be delivered \n\nTHE GALLERY OF PORTRAITS \n\nor, \n\nTHE WORLD AS IT GOES \n\nBy Mr. Harper \n\nThe whole to conclude with a Dancing Ballet called The Bird \nCatcher, with the Minuet de la Cour and the Gavot. \n\nThis sounds much more like the program at \na vaudeville performance than like an announce- \nment for the *' legitimate.\" Evidently it was \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 425 \n\nIntended to test the law just as the ** Sunday \nConcert \" in Boston does to-day. \n\nFor almost two months this continued to be \nthe pabulum offered and then, by way of trans- \nition to actual theatrical performances, the \ndrama began to be presented in the guise of a \n\" moral lecture.\" \" Othello,\" as thus given is \nvery interesting, I think. Its playbill for a per- \nformance in Newport, some time before reads : \n\nA MORAL DIALOGUE \n\nIn Five Parts \n\nDepicting the evil effects of jealousy, and other bad passions, \nand proving that happiness can only spring from the pursuit \nof \\artue. \n\nMr. Douglas — will represent a noble and magnanimous \nMoor, called Othello, who loves a young lady named Desde- \nmona, and after he has married her, harbors, (as in too many \ncases) the dreadful passion of jealousy. \n\nOf jealousy, our being's bane, \n\nMark the small cause and the most dreadful pain. \n\nMr. Allyn — will depict the character of a specious villain in \nthe regiment of Othello, who is so base as to hate his commander \non mere suspicion, and to impose on his best friend. Of such \ncharacters, it is to be feared, there are thousands in the world, \nand the one in question may present to us a salutary warning. \n\nThe man that wrongs his master and his friend. \nWhat can he come to but to a shameful end ? \n\nMr. Hallam — will delineate a young and thoughtful officer, \nwho is traduced by Mr. Allyn, and getting drunk, loses his \n\n\n426 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nsituation and his general's esteem. All young men whatsoever \ntake example from Cassio. \n\nThe ill effects of drinking would you see ? \nBe warned and fly from evil company. \n\nMr. Morris will represent an old gentleman, the father of \nDesdemona who is not cruel or covetous, but is foolish enough \nto dislike the noble Moor, his son-in-law, because his face is \nnot white forgetting that we all spring from one root. Such \nprejudices are very numerous and very wrong. \n\nFathers beware what sense and love ye lack, \n'Tis crime, not color, makes the being black. \n\nMr. Quelch — will dejMct a fool who wishes to become a \nknave, and, trusting to one, gets killed by him. Such is the \nfriendship of rogues — take heed. \n\nWhen fools would knaves become, how often you'll \nPerceive the knave not wiser than the fool. \n\nMrs. Morris — will represent a young and virtuous wife, \nwho being wrongfully suspected, gets smothered (in an adjoin- \ning room) by her husband. \n\nReader, attend; and e'er thou goest hence \nLet fall a tear to helpless innocence. \n\nMrs. Douglas — will be her faithful attendant, who will \nhold out a good example to all servants, male and female, and \nto all people in subjection. \n\nObedience and gratitude \n\nAre things as rare as they are good. \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 427 \n\n. . . Conclusion at half past ten, in order that every specta- \ntor may go home at a sober hour, and reflect upon what he has \nseen before he retires to rest. \n\n\nConsiderable ingenuity was exercised, also, in \nremodelling Garrick's farce of *' Lethe \" into \na satirical lecture called \" Lethe or iEsop in the \nShades\" pronounced by Mr. Watts and Mr. \nand Mrs. Solomon. Otway's \" Venice Preserved \" \nwas announced as a moral lecture in five parts, \n\" in which the dreadful effects of conspiracy \nwill be exemplified.\" \"Romeo and Juliet\" and \n\" Hamlet \" were similarly masked and mangled. \nOn October 5, growing a bit more bold, \" the \npernicious tendency of libertinism exemplified \nin the tragical history of George Barnwell or \nthe London Merchant \" was presented, — still \nas a moral lecture, and delivered by Messrs. \nHarper, Morris, Watts, Murray, Solomon, Red- \nfield, Miss Smith, Mrs. Solomon and Mrs. \nGray. Obviously this was a play with a good \nsized cast. The aid of the law must be invoked \nto suppress it! The first attempt to do this failed, \nand performances continued to be given at \nintervals of two or three days. On November 9, \nGarrick's garbled version of the \" Taming Of \nthe Shrew \" under the name of \" Catherine and \nPetruchio \" was presented ; on the 30th \" Ham- \nlet \" was given with Charles Stuart Powell in \nthe title character, and on December the third \n\n\n428 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe same actor assumed the leading role in \n\" Richard III.\" \n\nThen the blow fell. During a performance \nof \" The Rivals,\" on December 5, Harper was \narrested by Sheriff Allen, at the end of the first \nact, for violating the law against theatrical \npresentations. The audience, which was com- \nposed largely of young men, were disposed to be \nresentful at this treatment of their favorite and \nproceeded to tear down the seal of the United \nStates from the proscenium arch and to cut into \npieces the portrait of Governor Hancock whose \nhand was seen to be behind the arrest. Strong \naction this to be taken by the descendants of \nthe \"Sons of Liberty!\" Only when Harper \nwas admitted to bail would they disperse, and \nthen they assembled at the hearing the follow- \ning day in Faneuil Hall. This time Harrison \nGray Otis was on the side of play-acting and \nsecured a dismissal of Harper on the technical \nground of illegality in the warrant of arrest. \nHancock's opposition did not slacken, however, \nand in a subsequent session of the legislature \nhe alluded to the theatrical row as \"an open \nassault upon the laws and government of the \nCommonwealth.\" \n\nRoyal Tyler, afterward chief justice of Ver- \nmont, wrote a play about this time, which was \ncalled \" The Contrast \" and which is interesting \nas the first American play ever produced by a \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 429 \n\nregular company of comedians. It was originally \ngiven in New York April 16, 1790, but it had a \nperformance in the New Exhibition Room, — \nthe last of any note there to be given. For in the \nspring of 1793 the theatre was taken down and \na movement initiated for the promotion of a \nplayhouse on a larger scale. Subscribers to the \nproject were found without difficulty among \nmany of the best people, in spite of the opposition \nof Samuel Adams who in 1794 succeeded Han- \ncock as governor and who, though he felt himself \nin ordinary matters to be simply an executive \nofficer, stood out stubbornly as long as he lived \nagainst the popular desire for theatrical enter- \ntainments. \n\nThe new theatre was located at the corner of \nFederal and Franklin Streets and with its \nopening on February 3, 1794, the dramatic \nhistory of Boston may be properly said to have \nbegun. It was called the Boston Theatre and \nwas under the management of Charles Stuart \nPowell and Baker. It had been erected from the \nplans of Charles Bulfinch, then a young man, and \na contemporary thus describes it: \n\n*' It was one hundred and forty feet long, \nsixty-two feet wide, forty feet high; a lofty and \nspacious edifice built of brick, with stone facings, \niron posts and pillars. The entrances to the \ndifferent parts of the house were distinct. In \nthe front fhere was a projecting arcade which \n\n\n430 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nenabled carriages to land company under cover. \nAfter alighting at the main entrance, they \npassed through an elegant saloon to the stair- \ncases leading to the back of the boxes. The pit \nand gallery had separate entrances on the sides. \n\" The interior was circular in form, the ceiling \n\n\nTHE BOSTON THEATRE ON FEDERAL STREET \n\n\ncomposed of elliptical arches resting on Corin- \nthian pillars. There were two rows of boxes, \nthe second suspended by invisible means. The \nstage opening was thirty-one feet wide, orna- \nmented on either side by two columns, between \nwhich was a stage door opening on a projecting \niron balcony. Above the columns a cornice and \na balustrade were carried over the stage opening; \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 431 \n\nabove these was painted a flow of crimson \ndrapery and the arms of the United States and \nthe common wealtl I blended with emblems tragic \nand comic. A ribbon depending from the arms \nbore the motto, ' All the world's a stage.' \n\n\" The boxes were hung with crimson silk, \nand their balustrades gilded; the walls were \ntinted azure, and the columns and fronts of the \nboxes straw and lilac. At the end of the building \nwas a noble and elegant dancing pavilion, richly \nornamented with Corinthian columns and pilas- \nters. There were also spacious card and tea \nrooms, and kitchens with the proper conve- \nniences.\" \n\nNone of our present theatres can bpast such \nconveniences, nor can they approach the state \nand ceremony observed in a performance of \n1793. The \" guests \" were met by a bewigged \nand bepowdered master of ceremonies, and \nescorted to their boxes. Thence, however, they \nsaw the performance but dimly in the feeble \nlight of candles or the more objectionable, \nsmoky illumination of whale oil lamps. More- \nover, they might freeze in winter for all the \neffective heating apparatus provided. Perhaps \nit was to keep warm that the galleiy gods threw \nthings; certainly the orchestra was constrained \nto insert a card in the newspaper requesting the \naudience to be more restrained in the matter of \npelting the musicians with apple cores and or- \n\n\n432 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nanges. The music, by the way, was of a high \nstandard, Reinagh of Philadelphia being director. \nIn short, the Boston was conceded to be the fin- \nest theatre in the country at the time. \n\nIt was a losing venture at first and at the end \nof the second season Powell retired in disgust \nand bankruptcy. He chose to consider himself \na much injured person and his adherents rallied \nround him and his project for a new theatre. \nIt was felt that the managers of the Boston, who \nwere Federalists, had been using their play- \nhouse to offend their political opponents, the \nJacobins. \n\nSo Charles Stuart Powell and the Jacobins \nof Boston set about erecting a new playhouse. \nA lot about where now stands the present \nTremont Theatre was purchased, and \" The \nHaymarket \" came into existence. It was plain \non the exterior, but capacious and elegant inside, \nand its proprietors looked to the speedy over- \nthrow of the Boston. \n\nOn the 26th of December, 1796, \" The Hay- \nmarket \" opened, and for a time pushed the \nBoston hard in the race for supremacy. For a \ntime the outcome was doubtful. Both houses \nwere bringing out great attractions and both \nlosing a great deal of money. The proprietors \nof the Boston could stand the loss; their rivals \ncould not, and at the end of a few seasons the \nHaymarket was abandoned. In 1803 the build- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 433 \n\ning was razed, and for the next twenty years tlie \nBoston was unrivalled. \n\nOne interesting character connected with the \nearly history of the theatre on Federal Street \nwas Mrs. Susanna Rowson, who is, however, \nbetter known as the author of \" Charlotte \nTemple,\" and as the teacher of a famous private \nschool than as an actress. Her career is full of \ncolor. She was born in Portsmouth, England, \nin 1762, the daughter of Lieutenant William \nHaswell of the British Navy, and, when four \nyears old, was brought to Hull, in Boston \nHarbor, where her father was stationed as a \nBritish revenue oflScer for the port of Boston. \n\nNotwithstanding her rude environment, (Hull \nwas, at the time, a village of one hundred and \nfifty inhabitants) the mental training that Susanna \nreceived within the family circle was such that \nat the age of ten she was reading Virgil, Homer \nand Shakespeare, to the amazement of the \npatriot, James Otis, a neighbor and constant \nvisitor at the house. \n\nFrom Telegraph hill, behind the house, \nSusanna heard and saw the battle of Bunker \nHill, which signified to her father that he could \nno longer remain neutral in the contest, as he \nhad until that period. Already the entire popu- \nlation of Hull, save the Haswell family, had \nemigrated inland, to avoid the depredations of \nthe British. \n\n\n434 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nA month after Bunker Hill the women of the \nfamily were frightened half out of their wits by \na visit of three companies of continentals from \nHingham, who embarked in boats at Hull, \nproceeded to Boston light and burned it, in \norder to embarrass British shipping as much as \npossible. Susanna saw the British rebuild the \nlighthouse, and the Yankees soon afterward put \noff again and killed or captured everybody en- \ngaged in repairing and maintaining the light, \na sharp engagement taking place, in which a \nBritish boat was sunk by a cannon shot from \nthe hill above the Has well house. One of the \nwounded British soldiers was brouglit ashore \nby the Americans and died the same night in the \nHaswell house, Susanna and her father burying \nhim in their garden the next morning. \n\nAs Lieutenant Haswell refused to join the \nAmerican cause, he and his family were removed \nto Hingham, kept under guard and supported \nas town charges for two years. He was finally \nreleased on parole and returned with his family \nto England, where Susanna became governess \nin a noble family, and in that capacity made a \ntour of Europe. \n\nIn 1786, her father having become incapaci- \ntated for service, Susanna married, for a home, \nWilliam Rowson, a man much older than her- \nself, who had a comfortable fortune, though he \nlost it soon afterward. It was then that she \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 435 \n\nembarked in literature, with such success that \nthe regent, afterward George IV, pensioned her \nfather. \n\nHer book, \" Charlotte Temple,\" on which \nher fame chiefly rests, was written in 1790, and \nwas represented by her as a true story, Charlotte \nTemple having been a daughter of the earl of \nDerby, head of one of the proudest families in \nEngland, while Montraville, the hero, or villain, \nwhichever one may choose to call him, was really \nColonel John Montressor, her father's most \nintimate friend in America, for whom one of \nSusanna's brothers was named. \n\nMontressor was with General Gage in Boston \nduring the early days of the Revolution, and was \nthe engineer who planned the various local \nfortifications before and during the siege of this \ntown. The book had the most prodigious circu- \nlation ever known in America up to that time and \nit has been several times republished since. \n\nIn 1793 Mr. and Mrs. Rowson went on the \nstage, and 1796 found them in the company at \nthe Federal Street theatre in this city. Tiring of \nthis profession Mrs. Rowson, a year later, opened \na boarding-school for young ladies in Federal \nStreet and, though the prejudice against her as \nan actress was strong at first, she soon proved \nher aptitude for her new vocation so unmis- \ntakably that her school became the most popu- \nlar one in New England. \n\n\n43G OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nShe later removed it to the old Timothy Bige- \nlow estate, Medford; in 1803 to the present \nNewton Clubhouse in Newton, in 1807 to the \nsite of the present Washington market at the \nSouth End, and in 1809 to Hollis Street, opposite \nthe present Hollis Street Theatre. \n\nIn her latter years Mrs. Rowson was editor \nsuccessively of the Boston Weekly Magazine and \nthe New England Galaxy. She died in 1824 \nat the age of sixty-three, and was buried under \nSt. Matthew's Church in South Boston, though \nshe had been a member of Trinity. Afterward \nher remains were transferred to Mt. Hope. But \nthough her own grave is thus obscurely located, \nthat of Charlotte Temple, her most famous \nheroine, is a favorite shrine for tourists the place \nwhere she lies being almost as much sought after \nas that of Elizabeth Whitman, — of somewhat \nsimilar history, — in the old burying ground \nat Peabody, Massachusetts. \n\nIn \" A Record of the Boston Stage,\" written \nby William W. Clapp, Jr., in the middle of the \nlast century, may be found hundreds of interest- \ning stories about the theatrical ups and downs \nof the playhouse on Federal street. The critics \nof that day were as severe in their denunciations \nas they were fulsome in their praise and even at \nthis distance of time we feel a thrill of pity for \nthe young woman of whom one knight of the \n\n[' See \" Romance of Old New England Churches.\"] \n\n\nTHE OLD SOUTH CHURCH, ABOUT 1800, \n\nPage 437 \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 437 \n\npen wrote that she had neither face, nor form, \nnor voice nor action, in short \" no one talent for \nthe profession she has usurped.\" And then, \ndropping like Mr. Wegg into poetry, he adds, \n\n\" When to enforce some very tender part, \nThe right hand sleeps by instinct on the heart \nThe soul of every other thought bereft. \nSeems anxious only where to place the left.\" \n\nOn one occasion an actor who, when not in \nthe bill, served as house manager, was very \nmuch disturbed, — though supposed to be \nRomeo and dead, — by the ringing of bells \nnear by. With one eye and his subconscious \nmind he perceived that the audience was taking \nalarm at the sound, — fearing fire, in their \nmidst. So, interrupting Juliet's lamentations, \nhe sat up and said: \" Ladies and gentlemen, \ndo not be alarmed. I assure you that it is only \nthe Old South Bell.\" \n\nAt this time, by the by, there was never a \ntheatrical performance in Boston on the eve- \nnings when religious services were held at Rev. \nDr. Belknap's church, on the same street. When \nWashington died, in December, 1799, the theatre \nremained closed a week and, on January 10, \n1800, the day of public mourning in Boston, \nthere was here presented \" a Monody on the \nDeath of General Washington \" against a \nbackground hung all in black. \n\n\n438 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nJohn Bernard, who has written a very enter- \ntaining book of theatrical gossip called \" Retro- \nspections of America \" was an actor and subse- \nquently a manager at Federal Street, and early \nin the nineteenth century there was introduced \nto Boston through him the Honorable Mrs. \nTwisleton, afterwards Mrs. Stanley, the first \nof a long line of '* society actresses.\" \n\nAt this house in 1809 appeared the first \nnative-born actor to gain distinguished recogni- \ntion at home and abroad, — John Howard \nPayne, the author of \" Home Sweet Home,\" \nthen but eighteen years old. It was directly \nbefore this that Master Betty, as young Roscius, \nmade a tremendous sensation in England and \nhis success was just the spark for Payne's ambi- \ntion. \n\nPayne was the son of a Boston schoolmaster \n\" and a perfect Cupid in his beauty.\" His \ncareer is striking enough to deserve attention, \nfrom its bright beginning to its tragic end. In- \ndeed, if I were in search of an American about \nwhom to build an historical novel of extraordi- \nnary and compelling interest, I should select \nJohn Howard Payne. For this man was a part \nof all that he met; there was nothing of novelty \nand adventure in his day in which he failed to \nhave a stake. Yet he is remembered only as \nthe writer of a song which earned a fortune for \nhis publishers, but for which he received, during \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 439 \n\nhis lifetime, scarcely any cash and very little \ncredit. \n\nPayne was born in New York City June 9, \n1782, the sixth child in a family of nine. His \nprecocity was wonderful — aggravated no doubt \nby the fact that during his most impressionable \nchildhood years he lived in Boston, whither \nhis father had removed to take charge of an \nacademy. The most notable incident in the \nlad's Boston residence was his formation of a \nmilitary company, which paraded on the Com- \nmon and to which John C. Palfrey, afterward \nthe historian, and Samuel Woodworth, who \nbecame the author of \" The Old Oaken Bucket,\" \nbelonged. Payne was assistant editor at this \ntime, too, of a child's paper called The Fly, of \nwhich Woodworth was editor in chief. \n\nWhen the gifted lad was thirteen, however, \nhe solemnly put away childish things and went \nback to New York to act as clerk in a counting- \nhouse. While filling this humble position he \ninterested himself deeply in things dramatic, \npossibly in emulation of Charles Lamb, and \nedited the Thespian Mirror. This occupation, as \nit fell out, brought him the turn in his tide of \nluck. For one day the Evening Post reprinted \nfrom the Mirror a piece of critical writing so \nremarkable that the Post's editor, Mr. Coleman, \ncould scarcely believe it to have been the product \nof a lad of fourteen. When convinced, however. \n\n\n440 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthat such was the case, he hunted up young \nPayne and insisted upon sending him to college. \nThe institution of learning selected was Union \nCollege, New York. But even in his student \ndays this lad could not leave journalism alone, \nand during the two terms that he spent here he \nedited twenty-five numbers of a periodical called \nThe Pastime. Then, his father dying, he left \nhis books for a stage career, making his first \nappearance as an actor either in the Park Thea- \nter, New York, or in the old Federal Street \nTheatre, Boston, according to which historian \nyou decide to believe. Wherever he played he \nwas received with the greatest enthusiasm. For \nhe added to considerable ability as an actor a \nwonderfully attractive personality. Nature had \nbestowed upon him a countenance of no common \norder: a face round and fair, with eyes that \nglowed with animation and intelligence. Payne's \nface, in truth, was an index of his character in \nthat it contained an extraordinary mixture of \nstrength and weakness. In London and in the \nprovinces this gifted man enacted his \" Young \nNorval \" with unbounded success, winning the \nmost delighted plaudits wherever he appeared. \nWilliam W. Corcoran (founder of the Corcoran \nArt Gallery, Washington) saw Payne in this \npart when he (Corcoran) was a lad of only \neleven, and he never forgot the impression the \nactor made upon him. More, he remembered \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 441 \n\nso well that, as we shall see, he did for Payne \nwhat no one else in all the world had thought \nof doing. \n\n\nJOHN HOWARD PAYNE, AS \" YOUNG NOKVAL \" \n\nAs a playwright, no less than as an actor, \nPayne was a great success. The popularity of \nhis \" Brutus,\" as given by Edmund Kean, was \nso great that the play had to be \" set up \" by \n\n\n442 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe *' Romans,\" themselves turned compositors \nfor the occasion and working an improvised \nprinting press under the stage. \" Charles II,'* \ntoo, was played many times with great success \nby Charles Kemble. \n\nYet only \" Home, Sweet Home,\" written to \nbe sung in \" Clari, the Maid of Milan,\" an \nadaptation from the French, lives. This song \nwas turned off in a rush order on a dull October \nday in 1823, to be used in a play which, with two \nothers, Payne had sold to Charles Kemble for \ntwo hundred and fifty pounds. Undoubtedly \nthe song was the outpouring of all that was best \nin this man who himself had now no home ; the \ncry from the inmost depths of a deeply sensitive \nsoul. For this reason it is that the song finds \nsuch sympathetic response in so many other \nhearts and is so tenderly soothing withal. The \nparticular house Payne described in his verses \nwas the old home of his family in Easthampton, \nLong Island. It has been well said that the sight \nof this house is the best assurance anywhere \nobtainable that the sentiment of \" Home, Sweet \nHome \" is absolutely true. \n\nOf course the song was a success. More than \none hundred thousand copies of it were sold by \nthe publishers within a year of its first appear- \nance. But Payne was not only cheated out of \nthe twenty-five pounds he was to have on the \ntwentieth night of his play, but his name failed \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 443 \n\nas well to appear on the title page of the song. \nThis was, however, only one of the many little \nironies with which our composer's career was so \nliberally punctuated. \n\nWashington Irving had long been one of \nPayne's warm friends, and through him, aided \nby Daniel Webster, then secretary of state, the \nactor-author was in 1842 given a consulship in \nTunis. Now Payne was really happy. For \nthough he worked faithfully enough for the \ngovernment, he had still leisure for literary \npursuits, and he hoped to end his days in this \npost, discharging its easy duties and poking \nabout for book material. James K. Polk, how- \never, had a friend of his own for whom he \nwanted the Tunis post, and in 1846 the consul \nthere was recalled by him. Payne came back, \nbut this time he was determined to fight for what \nhe coveted, and he enlisted the support of such \nstrong politicians that, after six years of struggle, \nhe succeeded in getting back his consulship. \nMeanwhile, however, he was being liberally \nhonored as the composer of \" Home, Sweet \nHome.\" For once, when he was in the theatre \nat Washington, Jenny Lind turned directly \nto him and sang the sweet, sad song. The very \nnext year after he secured once more the post \nfor which he had fought such a good fight, John \nHoward Payne passed away in Tunis, dying as \nhe had lived, homeless, on the distant shore of \n\n\n444 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe Mediterranean. His mortal remains lay long \nin the burning sands of far-away Morocco, and \neven now a monument to him stands in the \ncemetery of St. George there. \n\nBut in 1883 (you see we are going far ahead \nof our story in order to finish Payne's career) \nWilliam W. Corcoran, in answer to Payne's death- \nless j)lea for home, and out of gratitude to the \nactor who had stirred him when he was a boy, \nhad Payne's remains disinterred and brought \nback to this country. Thus it came about that \nthe lad who had thrilled all his auditors in the \nold Boston Theatre, when a youth of eighteen, \nwas, on the ninety-second anniversary of his \nbirth, buried in Oak Cemetery, Washington, in \nthe presence of a very distinguished company, \nincluding the president of the United States. \nAs his ashes were lowered into the grave a large \nand reverent chorus sang his immortal song of \nHome. \n\nFive years ago, there turned up for auction \nsale in Philadelphia a lot of letters which are \nsaid to shed light upon the hitherto unknown \nlove of Payne's life. The lady in the case appears \nto have been no less a person than Mary Woll- \nstonecraf t Shelley ! But to her he paid his court \nin vain, for she remained ever devoted to the \nmemory of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, \nthe famous English poet. \n\nWith a famous American poet, — Edgar Allan \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 445 \n\nPoe, — the history of the Federal Street Tlieatre \nduring this period must now be associated. For \nhis father and mother were playing there the \nwinter that he was born. For a long time it \nwas not known just where, in Boston, their \nfamous child first saw the light but, through the \npainstaking research of Walter Kendall Watkins, \nthe house where the young couple were living \non January 19, 1809, has now been fixed as on \nCarver,^ then Haskins Street, the number of the \ndwelling being 62. With Mr. Watkins 's per- \nmission I here give a part of his contribution to \nthe matter. \n\n\" Poe's birthplace has plausibly been supposed \nto be in the vicinity of the Boston Theatre on \nFederal Street. James Dickson, the comedian \nand manager of the theatre, lived at 25 Federal \nstreet. His partner Snelling Powell, the come- \ndian lived in Theatre Alley. Catherine Butler's \nboarding-house at 30 Federal street was also \nthe resort of actors. . . . David Poe, however, \nwas living, in 1808, at the house on the east side \nof Haskins, later Carver, street owned by Henry \nHaviland, a stucco worker, and in which resided \nHaviland, Daniel Grover an actor, Joshua \nBarrett, ropemaker, Moses Andrew ropemaker \nand John Hildreth.\" \n\nMrs. Poe had been Elizabeth Arnold, a \n\n* There is, however, a possibility that the poet was born at 33 \nIlollis Street, that being the address of his father on the Boston tax \nrecords for 1808. \n\n\n446 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nbeautiful and talented English actress when, in \nthe course of a southern tour, she met David Poe, \na handsome young law student of Baltimore and \nmarried him. He seems to have made a mis- \ntake in abandoning his profession for hers, as \nhe did after their marriage; there is no evidence \nwhatever that he had any talent for the stage. \nBut she was very popular with her audiences, \nand the records show that, though she played \nmany parts, she was acceptable in almost all of \nthem. \n\n\" The first appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Poe \nat the Boston Theatre,\" says Mr. Watkins, \n\" was on October 13, 1806 in ' Speed the Plough,' \na five act comedy by Thomas Morton. . . . On \nApril 20, 1807, Mr. Poe received a benefit where \nthere was given for the first time in Boston, a \nthree act comedy by John O'Keefe, a prolific \nfarce-writer, entitled, ' The Lie of the Day.' \nIn this Mrs. Poe was Sophie and afterwards \nfavored the audience with a hornpipe. . . . \nEaster Monday, 1808, the Bostonians witnessed \nSchiller's ' Robbers ' dramatized by John Hodg- \nkinson, a former manager of the Boston Thea- \ntre. Amelia was played by Mrs. Poe. On the \nsame evening she was also Ella in ' Ella Rosen- \nburg' by James Kenney. ... In the fall of \n1808 Mr. and Mrs. Poe appeared together in \n' More Ways Than One.' ... In the serio- \ncomic burletta, ' Life And Death or Tom \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 447 \n\nThumb the Great ' Mrs. Poe impersonated \nQueen DellaboHa. ' King Lear ' was acted by \nFennell, supported by Mrs. Poe as Cordelia and \nduring the evening she gave a favorite song, \n' Nobody coming to marry me.' . . . On No- \nvember 14, 1808 she sang ' Just like love is yonder \nRose ' in the play of ' More Ways Than One ' \nand on November 28, appeared as Lydia in \n' The Sixty-third Letter,' a musical afterpiece.\" \nBelievers in pre-natal influences may find in \nthe extraordinary jumble of fictitious characters, \n— and there were many more than I have \nmentioned, — with which Poe's mother was \nburdening her brain at this time a hint as to the \nsource of that uncanny and elusive gift which \nPoe's critics have sought in vain to explain by \nany of the experiences in the poet's own life. \nMrs. Poe appears to have done her hard duty \nbefore the public up to the last possible moment. \nAnd that she lost no time in getting back to the \ntask by which she and her babe were to live we \nsee from this notice in the Boston Gazette of \nFebruary 9, 1809: \" We congratulate the fre- \nquenters of the Theatre on the recovery of Mrs. \nPoe from her recent confinement. This charm- \ning little actress will make her reappearance \ntomorrow evening as Rosamunda in the popular \nplay of * Abaellino, the Great Bandit,' a part \npeculiarly adapted to her figure arid talents.\" \nShe had been out of the bill less than ten weeks ! \n\n\n448 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nWithin two years both parents of the new-born \nbabe were dead, victims of consumption. \n\nAbout this time the taste of Bostonians for \nspectacular productions began first to evince \nitself. \" Tekeli,\" brought out in 1809, had suc- \nceeded measurably, and \" The Forty Thieves \" \nwas accordingly announced as \" in preparation.\" \nIn order to bring it out with fine effect the theatre \nwas closed for the ten days previously and, on \nMarch 12, 1810, the spectacle was produced, in \na style of magnificence which has scarcely been \nequalled since. The receipts for the first night \nwere nine hundred and eight dollars and thirty- \nseven cents, and the amount received for nine \nsuccessive performances was six thousand six \nhundred and forty-seven dollars and twelve \ncents, — a very large sum for those days. The \nplay had a good run for many seasons. \n\nAn interesting \" star \" at the Boston Theatre \nduring 1810-1811 was Mrs. Duff, a woman of \nrare beauty and some talent. Before her mar- \nriage she had been Miss Dyke, and Tom Moore's \nfirst wife was her sister-. It is said that the poet's \nsong, \" Mary, I believe thee true,\" was addressed \nto her. George Frederick Cooke was another \ncharacter then cast in the company at the \nBoston. Once at a private party in the city \nCooke was asked what was the most beautiful \npassage he had ever read, the presumption being, \nof course, that he would quote something from \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 449 \n\nShakespeare. But he replied by calling for a \nBible and turned to \"St Paul's Defence at the \nTribunal of King Agrippa,\" which he proceeded \nto read from beginning to end in a most ex- \nquisite manner. Cooke was a hard drinker and, \nas a result, was often incapacitated, when cast \nfor a leading part. On one occasion he found \nhimself on the stage in such condition that his \nlines would not come. So laying his hand com- \nically against his cheek, he said, making a wry \nface which he accompanied with a grotesque \nbow: \" Ladies and gentlemen, my old complaint, \n— my old complaint,\" and made his exit amid \nshouts of laughter. \n\nThe war of 1812 had its effect, as might be \nsupposed, upon the audiences at the Boston \nTheatre. But performances went on just the \nsame, the prices being: boxes, one dollar; green \nboxes, seventy-five cents ; pit, fifty cents ; gallery \nthirty-seven and one-half cents. During the \nprogress of the war the spirits of those who \nattended the theatre were kept up by frequent \nproductions of pieces in honor of our naval \nvictories. On October 2, following the capture \nof the \" Guerriere \" by the American frigate \n\" Constitution,\" a patriotic effusion on the \nencounter was given with great success. This \npiece and others of its kind had little incident \nand less connected plot, but consisted of songs \nand dances, interspersed with patriotic dialogues. \n\n\n450 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nOf course, coming after an epoch-making victory, \nthey \" took \" like wildfire. \n\nWhile the Boston Theatre was thus pursuing \nits course with greater or less profit, according \nto the times, circuses and other entertainments \nof that ilk were slowly coming to the fore. \nWashington Gardens, which stood in the rear \nof what is now St. Paul's Church, was one of \nthe earliest and best-known of the open-air \ntheatres. Here in 1815 Mrs. Mestayer astonished \nspectators by \" dancing on the wire,\" she being \nthe first lady to trust herself, in Boston, to so \nslight and brittle a footing. One advertisement, \ntaken from the Gazette of November 30, 1815, \ngives an interesting side light on the progress \nof things at the Boylston Museum: \" The Gas- \nLights, which are to be exliibited at the Boylston \nMuseum this evening (Thanksgiving) will be \nan interesting curiosity to those who are unac- \nquainted with chemistry, as the lights will be \nburnt upwards of one hundred feet from the \nreservoir which contains the gas, without the \naid of tallow, oil or wick. We understand that \nthe streets of Ludon are lighted with this gas \nin various directions for upwards of fifteen \nmiles.\" \n\nAt the Boston Theatre in the fall of 1816 \n'* Guy Mannering \" was brought out for the \nfirst time. In the season of 1817-1818 there was \na good company there which included an Eng- \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 451 \n\nlishman named Incledon, a singer of great merit \nand a friend of Pope the tragedian. Pope had a \ngreat love for the good things of life; he is said \nto have declared that no crime which a man \ncould commit is comparable in enormity to that \nof peppering a rump steak. When Incledon \nreturned from America, — soon after the close \nof the War of 1812, — his old friend sought him \nout and, when greetings had been exchanged, \nasked eagerly, \" Well, Charles, and how do \nthey feed ? \" \n\n\" Immortally,\" answered Incledon, *' the very \npoetry of eating and drinking, my dear Pope, \nin all things but one — they put no oil on their \nsalads.\" \n\n\" No oil to their salads! \" reiterated the horror- \nstricken tragedian. \" Why did we ever make \npeace with them ? \" \n\nIncledon was quite eccentric and, on one \noccasion, soon after the death of his first wife \n(to whom he had been warmly attached), after \ntravelling for some time in a coach beside a \nconsumptive looking man he took leave of his \nneighbor in the following reassuring fashion: \n\"My poor fellow, you're bespoke; you're now, \nI take it, as good as ready money to the under- \ntaker. If you see my dear sainted Jane pray \ntell her you saw me and that I'm well.\" \n\nThe first of the Wallacks to play in Boston \nwas James, and he made his debut in the town \n\n\n452 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nthe very year, as it happens, that his famous son, \nLester Wallack was born. His career, — previ- \nous to his opening at the Federal Street Theatre, \n\nTHEATRE. \n\nMrWAEEACK, \n\nFOR TWO WEEKS. \n\n•.'On account of Thanksgiving, and Ihe Rev. Mr. Channino's Lecture falling on Thursday \n\nnext, Ihe Evenings u! P^rrorrnancc, for Ihis week, will be \n\nMONDAY, TUESDAY, IVEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY. \n\nJMr. Wallack's Second JVight. \n\nTHIS EVENING. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 18 1 8, \n\nWUl be performed, SHAHESPE /IRE'S cclebialed TRACEDV, Id five itts, ctlkd \n\nMACBETH. \n\nThe Original Air§ and Chorussea, composed bt/ JUathete Locke, \n\nMtOiedi Mr. W.lUck. ;• Fleance »(;„ ciirVe \n\nMacduff, Mr. Green. ; l-enoi Mr Pelbr \n\nMalcoim Mr. William.. • SejtoD, Mr. Adaii. \n\n2°\"\"° Mr.VVheaUe^ ; Bleedijig CapUin, .... Mr. Spooner. \n\nBanquo, Mr. Price. ; Officer, Mr. Jonei \n\nLady MacbetJi, . . . Mrs. Powell. ; Gentlewoman, - . . Mn. Pelbv \n\nHecate, - •• ■' \n\nGpeakjog Witchc», ......... \n\nPrincipal Vocal Parti \n\n\nTo which win be added, Uie favonte Musical Afierpiece, in two acta, called the \n\nBEE HIVE \n\nOR....SOLDIER'S RETURN. \n\nlUttan, Mr. OofT. \n\nCaptaan MertoB, .... Mr. WiJliama. \n\nEraily Mrs. Williams. \n\nCicel/, . - Mr». Pelby. 2 Mrt. Mijigte, • • Mn. Barnes. \n\nin the cmrst of the Piece, the following Bang*. \n\nSOUO....\" .March .> March .Away, Helen !\" Mr. DPFF. \n\nBOSO....\" aeigho/ Ueighor Mr». PEIBV. \n\nCOMIC HONQ....\" Deaertption of a Marritd Life,\" Mr. BRAY. \n\nFINALE....\" Tnnblea O'er, Jo/a in Store.\" \n\n\nTomorrow Evening, (Wednesday,) the MOUNTAINEERS Octavun. Mr. ■Waiaacr. \n\nNovember 30, 1818, as \" Rolla,\" — had been \nfull of incident. He was originally destined for \na career in the navy; but Richard Brinsley \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 453 \n\nSheridan happening to see him act in amateur \ntheatricals, when he was twelve, and being \nstruck with his promise, procured an auspicious \nengagement for him at the Drury Lane \nTheatre. \n\nThe year 1820 witnessed the arrival on our \nshores of perhaps the first really great actor so \nfar mentioned, however, — Edmund Kean. \nKean's career reads like a romance. His mother \nwas an actor's daughter, and though her husband \nwas another Edmund Kean, the tragedian pre- \nferred to believe that the Duke of Norfolk was \nhis father. Mrs. Kean having more or less \nto do with the stage, her child was always about \nthe theatre and when John Philip Kemble con- \nceived the idea of infant imps around the witches' \ncauldron in \" Macbeth,\" the Kean child was \none of the imps. To heighten the illusion Kean \ninsisted upon tripping up his fellow-imps in the \nplay, and when Kemble remonstrated with him \nhe explained that he had \" never before appeared \nin tragedy.\" His mother took no care wdiatever \nof him and to Miss Tisdale, an actress whom he \nhad been taught to regard as his aunt, he was \nindebted for the only training he ever had. From \nschool he ran away to join a circus, but during \nthe performance he fell and fractured both \nlegs, an accident which caused his gait to be \nexceedingly awkward all his life. Once during \nthis Wanderjahre period he had no clothes what- \n\n\n454 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\never and no money with which to buy food. A \nbundle of garments sent him by Miss Tisdaie \nwas accordingly pawned; he explained the \ntransaction by saying: \"for better security my \naunt's parcel was consigned to the charge of \n* my uncle.' \" \n\nKean's first real chance came when he was \nplaying Shylock in London, an engagement he \nhad secured after great vicissitudes of fortune. \nThe thing went tamely enough until the lines : \n\n\"The man is, notwithstanding, suflScient; — three thousand \nducats, I think I may take this bond. \n\n\" Bassanio. — Be assured you may. \n\n\" Shylock. — I tvill be assured I may; and that I may be as- \nsured I will bethink me.\" \n\n** I will be assured,\" was a new point — it \nmoved the audience; and *' then,\" as Kean \nafterwards expressed it, \" then, indeed, I felt, \nI knew, I had them with me ! \" That night began \nhis splendid career of triumph. There is not \nspace here even to indicate the glories of it, for \nwe must proceed to describe his very inglorious \nadventures in Boston, where he first opened \nFebruary 12, 1821, as \" Richard \" before a \nhouse crowded to the doors. His acting was the \nall-engrossing topic of fashionable discussion, \nand he became the lion of the day. He appeared \nas \" Lear,\" as \" Hamlet,\" — and as \" Brutus \" \nin Payne's play of that name to which reference \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 455 \n\nhas already been made. Great pressure was \nbrought to bear upon him to prolong his engage- \nment, which had been for a strictly limited num- \nber of performances, but he was booked for con- \ntracts elsewhere and so had to leave, though \nregretfully, what he styled in his curtain speech \non the last night, as *' the Literary Emporium \nof the New World.\" \n\nThe story of his return is not so splendid a \npage of Boston's theatrical history. It was late \nin May, 1821, and the manager, Mr. Dickson, \nhad endeavored to discourage his coming be- \ncause it was the dull season and many Boston \nfolk would be out of town. Kean replied that \nhe could draw at any time and he came, opening \nMay 23 as \" Lear \" to a fair house. The second \nnight the house was slim and for the third, when \nhe was billed as \" Richard III \" there was, \nearly in the evening, so small a crowd, that \nsurveying it, he refused to prepare for the per- \nformance and left in a rage for his hotel. \n\nScarcely had he gone when the boxes filled \nup, and a messenger was dispatched to bring \nhim back. But he declined to come and the \nmanager was obliged to explain that his star's \nrefusal to appear was for want of patronage. \nOf course those present were not pleased and \nthe newspapers had a great deal to say, next day, \nabout the way the tragedian had treated his \npublic. Accounts of the affair spread to New \n\n\n456 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS \n\nYork and Kean feared a riot. So he published \nin the New York National Advocate a letter in \nwhich he endeavored to justify himself at the \nexpense of Boston audiences. \" My advisers \nnever intimated to me,\" he caustically observed, \n\" that the theatres were only visited during \ncertain months of the year; that when curiosity \nhad subsided dramatic talent was not in estima- \ntion. But I am now convinced,\" he concluded \n*' that the fine weather was my chief enemy, and \nshall again resume my station in the Boston \ntheatre before I return to England.\" But no \nopportunity was made for him to go back to \nBoston, that trip. \n\nHe did not go again for nearly three years, \nindeed, and that Boston was still only a very \nlittle place is shown by the fact that his offence \nhad not then been forgotten. So vividly indeed \nwas the affront which he had put upon his \naudience on the previous occasion remembered, \nthat there was a shocking riot at the theatre in \nthe course of which eight hundred dollars' worth \nof damage was done to the building, — and Kean \nbarely escaped with his life. From every point \nof view the scene was a disgraceful one, but as \nit came when Boston was a city and not during \nits life as the town, — which terminated Decem- \nber 31, 1821, — a description of it does not \nproperly belong in this book. Yet I cannot \nrefrain from quoting the significant letter in \n\n\nOLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 457 \n\nwhich Kean, now thoroughly repentant, apolo- \ngized for his previous bad behavior. It marks \nso clearly, as of a far-away time, this actor and \nhis public! \n\n*' To the Editor, Sir, I take the liberty of \ninforming the citizens of Boston (through the \nmedium of your journal) of my arrival in confi- \ndence that liberality and forbearance will gain \nthe ascendency over prejudice and cruelty. That \nI have suffered for my errors my loss of fame and \nfortune is too melancholy an illustration. Acting \nfrom the impulse of irritation, I certainly was \ndisrespectful to the Boston public; calm de- \nliberation convinces me I was wrong. The \nfirst step towards the Throne of Mercy is con- \nfession — the hope we are taught, forgiveness, \nMan must not expect more than those attributes \nwhich we offer to God. \n\n*' Edmund Kean '* \n\n\" Exchange Coffee House. \n\" Dec. 21, 1825.\" \n\nThat, after publishing this, he should have \nbeen pelted, on the stage, with missiles hard \nand soft, makes one, for a moment, almost \nbelieve Samuel Adams was right in his feeling \nthat Boston would surely degenerate were \n\" stage plays \" allowed to be produced there, \n\nTHE END. \n\n\nINDEX \n\n\nAdams, Abigail, 41, 151, 153, \n270, 324, 327. \n\nAdams, Elizabeth Wells, 251, \n264, 265. \n\nAdams, Hannah, 330. \n\nAdams, John, 18, 26, 40, 116, \n190, 205, 215, 218, 229, 233, \n235, 256, 259, 260, 270, 277, \n310, 415. \n\nAdams, John Quincy, 206, 401. \n\nAdams, Samuel, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, \n14, 15, 17, 23, 28, 40, 58, \n74, 78, 117, 122, 133, 135, 217, \n223, 229, 251-268, 274, 277, \n294, 295, 372, 373, 457. \n\nAgassiz, Louis, 204. \n\nAmblaud, James, 375. \n\nAmes, Fisher, 402. \n\nAmory, Mrs. M. B., 190, 191, \n214. \n\nAvery, John, 117. \n\nAndrews, John, 65-107, 154, \n173, 256. \n\nAndros, Governor, 29. \n\nArkwright, Richard, 160. \n\nArnold, Elizabeth, 445. \n\nAttacks, Crispus, 17. \n\nBallard, Sam, 120. \nBarrington, Lord, 161. \nBelknap, Jeremy, 121, 328. \nBell, Archibald, 319. \nBeloe, WiUiam, 290, 293. \nBender, Margaret, 286. \nBennett, 8, 10. \nBerkeley, Dean, 192. \nBernard, Governor, 5, 16, 23. \n\n\nBernard, John, 438. \nBigelow, Horatio, 313. \nBillmgs, William, 330, .331. \nBlackstone, William, 196. \nBlanchard, Francois, 299, 300, \n\n302, 305, 307, 308. \nBolton, Charles Knowles, 43. \nBonaparte, Prince Jerome, 379. \nBonner, Peter, 413. \nBoston Common, 8, 46, 60, 68, \n\n81,89, 96, 175, 186, 189, 196, \n\n250, 256, 332, 338. \nBoston Gazette, 12. \nBoston Massacre, 17, 57, 113, \n\n261. \nBoston Port Bill, 29, 30, 37, 40, \n\n93. \nBowditch, Nathaniel I., 195. \nBowdoin, Governor James, 185, \n\n256, 345, 366. \nBowdoin, Mrs. James, 402. \nBradstreet, Anne, 313. \nBrattle Street Church, 170. \nBreck, Samuel, 292, 293, 343, \n\n352, 363. \nBreed Farm, 143. \nBridgewater, 81. \nBritish Coffee House, 17. \nBromfield, Abigail, 205. \nBrown, A. E., 223, 235. \nBulfinch, Charles, 413, 429. \nBunker Hill, 143, 374. \nBunker Hill Monument, 108, \n\n392. \nBurgoyne, Lady Charlotte, 157, \n\n162, 163. \nBurgoyne, General John, 143, \n\n\n460 \n\n\nINDEX \n\n\n149, 156, 157, 162, 163, 166, \n\n171, 177. \nBurke, Edmund, 33, 34. \nBurr, Aaron, 230, 232. \nBurr, Thaddeus, 227, 232. \nBute, Lord, 64. \nButler, Catherine, 445. \nByles, Rev. Mather, 48, 49, 98. \nByles, Rev. Matrher, Jr., 169. \n\n\nCabot, Samuel, 212. \nCaner, Dr. Henry, 169. \nCarpenters' Hall, 257, 258. \nCarroll, Archbishop, 379. \nCastle William, 16, 21. \nChastellux, Marquis de, 113, \n\n343, 362, 389. \nChardon, Peter, 196. \nChatham, Earl of, 31, 33, 36, \n\n158, 202. \nChrist Church, 109, 122, 169, \n\n189. \nChurch, Dr. Benjamin, 56, 112, \n\n119, 231, 264. \nClapp, William W., Jr., 436. \nClapp, W. W., 313. \nClark, Rev. Jonas, 118, 122, 225. \nClarke, Rev. James Freeman, \n\n361. \nClarke, Richard, 194, 204. \nCodman, Stephen, 134. \nCoffin, Dr. Nathaniel, 207. \nConant, Colonel, 122, 129. \nCongress, Continental, 40, 224, \n\n236, 251, 260. \nCongress, Provincial, 56, 141, \n\n224. \nCooke, George Frederick, 448. \nCooper, Dr. Samuel, 352, 357. \nCopley, John Singleton, 190-214. \nCopps Hill, 174, 175, 286. \nCorcoran, William W., 440, 444. \nCraft, Colonel, 250, 272. \nCraigie, Andrew, 377. \nCrane, Frederick Lincoln, 132. \nCrane, Dr. Phineas Miller, 131. \nCrane, Susan Dwight, 132. \nCromwell's Head Inn, 113. \nCunningham, Andrew, 196. \nGushing, Thomas, 223, 229, 256. \n\n\n\" Dartmouth,\" 27. \nDartmouth College, 319. \nDartmouth, Lord, 63, 175, 198. \n\" Daughters of Liberty,\" 25. \nDawes, Tom, 116. \nDean, Jolun Ward, 379. \nDeane, Charles, 128. \nDeane, Silas, 229. \nDearborn, General, 184. \nDe Fonblanque, 163, 166. \nDerby, Mrs. Richard, 207. \nD'Estaing, Admiral, 336, 337, \n\n339, 341. \nDevens, Richard, 129. \nDevonshire, Duchess of, 37. \nDe Warville, Jean Pierre Bris- \n\nsot, 353-374. \nDickson, James, 445, 455. \nDoane, Thomas, 334. \nDraper, Madam, 167, 311. \nDrowne, Shem, 111. \nDuche, Rev. Mr., 259. \n\n\" Earl Percy's Dinner Table,\" \n\n45. \nEliot, Dr. Andrew, 168, 169. \nEmerson, Rev. William, 177. \nEvelyn, William Glanville, 48. \n\nFaneuil Hall, 25, 27, 113, 154, \n155, 166, 188, 282, 352. \n\nFenno, Charles Jones, 400. \n\nFlynt, Rev. Josiah, 219. \n\nFort Hill, 73, 250, 273. \n\nFoster, Eleanor, 207. \n\nFoster, Mrs. John, 330. \n\nFox, Charles James, 30, 32-34, \n36, 37, 38, 39, 47. \n\nFox, Henry Edward, 47. \n\nFrankland, Agnes Surriage, 158. \n\nFranklin, Benjamin, 22, 67, 267, \n311. \n\nFreeman, Dr. James, 282, 361. \n\nFrye, Colonel, 87. \n\nGage, General, 40, 41, 44, 51, \n54, 56, 61, 75, 86, 87, 88, 101, \n142, 144, 149, 165, 218. \n\nGardiner, Robert, 392. \n\nGeorge IIL, 15, 30. 33, 36, 160, \n198, 207, 223, 319. \n\n\nINDEX \n\n\n461 \n\n\nGerard, M., 336. \n\nGerry, Eldridge, 84, 147, 266. \n\nGranary Burying Ground, 21, \n\n295. \nGratz, Rebecca, 400. \nGreen Dragon Tavern, 116, 117, \n\n120, 126. \nGreene, Gardiner, 45, 210, 294. \nGreene, Mrs. Gardiner, 210. \nGridley, Colonel Richard, 147. \nGriffin's Wharf, 73. \n\nHaldiman, General, 98. \n\nHale, Nathan, 313. \n\nHaley, Madam, 288-294, 352. \n\nHancock, Jolin, 7, 21, 56, 57, \n59, 60, 70, 74, 80, 87, 88, 101, \n117, 121, 133, 135, 141, 189, \n190, 215-250, 275, 277, 281, \n284, 289, 294, 295, 337, 340, \n372, 373, 412, 428. \n\nHancock, Rev. John, 219. \n\nHancock, Mrs. Lydia, 132, 135, \n221, 226. \n\nHancock, Thomas, 221. \n\nHancock Tavern, 375, 376. \n\nHarper, Joseph, 423. \n\nHarvard College, 25, 289. \n\nHaswell, Lieutenant William, \n433. \n\nHatch, Israel, 416. \n\nHeath, General, 371. \n\nHenry, Patrick, 258. \n\nHillsborough, Lord, 22, 23. \n\nHoffman, Matilda, 400. \n\nHolden, Oliver, 333. \n\nHoUis Street Church, 170. \n\nHolmes, Oliver Wendell, 171, \n220, 297. \n\nHosmer, James K., 1, 252. \n\nHowe, General, 143, 148, 160, \n162, 171, 175. \n\nHull, General William, 211. \n\nHutchinson, Thomas, 1-4, 14, \n15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 66, 75, 84, \n198, 199, 253, 290, 310. \n\nIncledon, Charles, 451. \nInman, Ralph, 9. \nIrving, Washington, 400, 443. \nIzard, Ralph, 200. \n\n\nJackson, Richard, 3. \nJarvis, Delia, 390. \nJeffries, Dr. John, 297-309. \nJetfry, Patrick, 288, 290. \nJenks, Mary Orne, 125. \nJolinson, Doctor Samuel, 36. \nJoy, Dr. Benjamin, 211. \n\nKast, Dr. Thomas, 149. \nKean, Edmund, 441, 453-457. \nKemble, Charles, 442. \nKemble, John Philip, 421, 453. \nKing's Chapel, 169, 189, 282. \nKimball's Hotel, 125. \nKnowlton, Captain, 143, 181. \n\nLafayette, 351-353. \n\nLane, Rev. Henry F., 126. \n\nLathrop, Rev. John, 320. \n\nLee, Colonel, 91. \n\nLee, General Charles, 165, 166. \n\nLee, R. H., 255, 262, 266. \n\nLewis, Lydia Ballard, 119. \n\nLiberty Tree, 117. \n\nLincoln, Colonel Frederick W., \n\n130. \nLind, Jenny, 443. \nLodge, Henry Cabot, 28, 283. \nLongfellow, Henry Wadsworth, \n\n400. \nLovell, James, 196. \nLowell, James Russell, 84. \nLyndhurst, Baron, 204, 209, 210, \n\n213. \n\nMacaulay, 31, 34, 156. \n\nMason, Jonathan, 211, 294. \n\nMassachusetts Historical Soci- \nety, 69, 121, 128,328. \n\nMather, Cotton, 419. \n\nMather, Rev. Samuel, 116. \n\nMelish, John, 417. \n\nMessinger, Daniel, 379. \n\nMiller, Wilham Turner, 176. \n\nMilton, 27, 41. \n\n\" Mohawks,\" 28. \n\nMonroe, President James, 313, \n414. \n\nMontagu, Lady Mary Wortley \n50. \n\nMontgomery, General, 182. \n\n\n462 \n\n\nINDEX \n\n\nMontressor, Colonel John, 435. \nMoorhead, Rev. Mr., 2S7. \nMoreau, General, 379. \nMorris, Robert, 381. \nMorton, Thomas, 446. \nMurdock, Harold, 45. \n\nNewman, Robert, 122. \n\nNorth, Lord, 18, 22, 33, 37, 38, \n\n97. \nNorthumberland, Duke of, 63. \n\nOld Powder House, 82. \n\nOld South Meeting House, 16, 17, \n\n20, 27, 57, 58, 72, 157, 170, \n\n283, 315. \nOld State House, 17, 18,68, 113, \n\n270, 271-278, 310, 335. \nOliver, Thomas, 84, 187. \nOtis, Harrison Gray, 211, 422. \nOtis, Mrs. Harrison Gray, 402. \nOtis, James, 17, 215, 223, 323. \n\nPaine, Robert Treat, 229, 256. \n\nPalfrey, John C, 439. \n\nParker, Rev. Samuel, 170. \n\nPark Street Church, 413, 414. \n\nParnell, Charles Stewart, 392. \n\nParsons, Colonel, 181. \n\nParsons, Theophilus, 74. \n\nPatterson, Elizabeth, 379. \n\nPayne, John Howard, 335, 438- \n444. \n\nPease, Captain Levi, 416. \n\nPelham, Charles, 115. \n\nPelham, Henry, 113, 114, 115, \n193, 210. \n\nPelham, Peter, 192. 193. \n\nPeppereU, Sir William, 93, 94. \n\nPercy, Earl, 43-65. \n\nPerkins, Mrs. James, 403. \n\nPerkins, Mrs. S. G., 407. \n\nPerry, Commodore Oliver Haz- \nard, 415. \n\nPeters, John, 321. \n\nPhillips, Hon. John, 411. \n\nPhilHps, Wendell, 411. \n\nPhillips, William, 387. \n\nPitcairn, Major John, 49, 141, \n149-151. \n\n\nPitt, WilUam, 30-33, 35, 37, 39. \n\nPitts, John, 267. \n\nPoe, David, 446. \n\nPoe, Edgar Allan, 444. \n\nPolk, James K., 443. \n\nPort, Jane, 257. \n\nPorter, Edward Griffin, 43. \n\nPowell, Charles Stuart, 427. \n\nPowell, Snelling, 445. \n\nPratt, Harvey H., 128. \n\nPrescott, Colonel, 143, 144, 148, \n\n185. \nPreston, Captain, 17, 18. \nProvidence Gazette, 12. \nProvince House, 92, 111, 118. \nPulling, Captain John, Jr., 123- \n\n128. \nPurviance, Samuel, 236. \nPutnam, General Israel, 144, \n\n146, 148, 172, 184. \nPutnam, Colonel Rufus, 180. \n\nQuincy, Edmund, 220, 226. \nQuincy, Henry, 336. \nQuincy, Josiah, 18, 416. \nQuincy, Josiah P., 402. \n\nRandolph, Peyton, 258. \n\nReed, Clifford, 128. \n\nReed, Joseph, 179. \n\nRevere, Joseph, 130. \n\nRevere, Paul, 54, 108-141, 276. \n\nRevere, Rachel Walker, 115. \n\nRevere, Sarah, 115. \n\nReynolds, Sir Joshua, 159, 198. \n\nRiedesel, Baroness, 158. \n\nRobin, Abbe, 347. \n\nRogers, Daniel Denison, 205. \n\nRotch, 27, 71, 72. \n\nRowe, John, 9, 154. \n\nRowson, Susanna, 330, 433-436. \n\nRuggles, Hon. Tomothy, 111. \n\nRussell, Major Benjamin, 312. \n\n\" St. Botolph's Town,\" 3, 30. \nSargent, Winthrop, 70. \nSavage, James, 39.3. \nScott, Dorothy Quincy Hancock, \n\n132, 134-136, 215-250, 280, \n\n296. \n\n\nINDEX \n\n\n463 \n\n\nSewall, Samuel, 66, 219. \nShaw, Francis, 380. \nShaw, Robert Gould, 386. \nShaw, Colonel Robert Gould, \n\n386. \nShaw, Major Samuel, 380-388. \nSheaffe, Roger, 47. \nShelley, Mary WoUstonecraft, \n\n444. \nShelley, Percy Bysshe, 444. \nSherman, Roger, 229. \nSmibert, 192. \n\" Sons of Liberty,\" 116. \nSpencer, General, 182. \nStamp Act, 2, 12, 31. \nStewart, Commodore John, 392. \nStiles, President Ezra, 141. \nStuart, Gilbert, 214, 378. \nSuffolk Resolves, 41. \nSullivan, General, 178. \nSullivan, William, 285, 375. \nSumner, General William H., \n\n134, 135. \nSwan, James, 211. \nSylvester, Richard, 253. \n\nTalleyrand, 375-379. \nTemple, Charlotte, 436. \nTemple, Lady John, 345. \nThaxter, Sarah, 127. \nThomas, Isaiah, 311. \nTileston, John, 110. \nTownshend Acts, 16. \nTracy, Nathaniel, 340, 341, 342. \nTrinity Church, 169, 170, 279, \n\n283 \nTrumbull, Colonel John, 196, \n\n266. \nTudor, Deacon John, 18, 282, \n\n288 389 \nTudor, Frederic, 388-400. \nTudor, William, 329, 393. \nTudor, Colonel William D., 389- \n\n392. \nTudor, Mrs. William D., 346, \n\n389. \nTurner, Thomas, 60. \n\n\nTwisleton, Honorable Mrs., 438. \n\nVan Berkle, 292. \nVane, Sir Harry, 30. \nVassall, William, 45. \n\nWales, Mrs. WilUam, 236, 248. \nWall, Rachel, 286. \nWallack, James, 451. \nWallack, Lester, 452. \nWalpole, Horace, 47, 157. \nWalter, Rev. Dr. William, 170. \nWard, Gen. Artemas, 53, 184. \nWarren, Dr. Joseph, 41, 56, 57, \n\n59, 100, 121, 122, 128, 141, \n\n147, 151, 261, 298. \nWarren, Mercy, 25, 215, 323-325, \n\n327. \nWashington, George, 3, 113, 176, \n\n177, 179, 234, 235, 236, 277, \n\n282, 335, 437. \nWaters, Colonel Josiah, 118. \nWatkins, Walter Kendall, 445. \nWatson, Brook, 204. \nWatson, Elkanah, 207. \nWatson, Rev. John Lee, 122. \nWebster, Daniel, 443. \nWelles, Samuel, 405. \nWendell, Judge Oliver, 411. \nWentworth, Governor John, 199, \n\n201. \nWest, Benjamin, 193, 198, 208. \nWheatley, John, 314. \nWheatley, Phillis, 314-322. \nWheeler, Mrs. E. Corinna, 119. \nWhitefield, Rev. George, 315, \n\n316. \nWhitman, Elizabeth, 436. \nWilkes, John, 288. \nWillard, Councillor, 145. \nWillis, Nathaniel, 328. \nWinthrop, Hannah, 25, 324. \nWinthrop, Mrs. Thomas Lindall, \n\n402. \nWitherspoon, John, 257. \nWolcott, Captain Giles, 183. \nWoodworth, Samuel, 439. \n\n\n13A4- \nC7 \n\n\nTHE LIBRARY \nUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA \n\nSanta Barbara \n\n\nTHIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE \nSTAMPED BELOW. \n\n\n976^114 \nJUL 27 18; \n\n\n50m-3,'68 (H9242sri ) 94Si \n\n\nn \n\n\nF^c^Ll^;v„ \n\n\n","title":"Old Boston Days & Ways","updated_at":"2026-09-05T09:48:43.835046Z","urn":"urn:lemay:boston:document:old-boston-days-ways","version":1,"withdrawn_reason":null},"urn":"urn:lemay:boston:document:old-boston-days-ways","version_history":[{"change_note":"accessioned from the Internet Archive, item oldbostondayswa00craw","changed_by":"archive-ingest 0.1.0","recorded_at":"2026-09-05T09:48:44.135232Z","version":1}]}